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A STUDY OF MAN 



AND 



THE WAY TO HEALTH 



BY 



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J. D. buck:, m:.d 



a 




Selfishness is the father of vice : 
Altruism, the mother of virtue. 



CINCINNATI 

ROBERT CLARKE & CO 

1889 



^ 

$*•* 



£ 



Copyright, 1889, 
By J. D. Buck. 



V 



DEDICATION. 

To the pure Light of Love 
That beams on the altar of my home 
And to the inspiring Soul of Unselfishness 
That radiates from the life of my sister 
These pages are affectionately inscribed. 



PBEFACE. 

" Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, 
The proper study of mankind is man. 
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, 
A being darkly wise, and rudely great ; 
With too much knowledge for the skeptic side, 
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, 
He hangs between ; in doubt to act, or rest ; 
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast ; 
In doubt his mind or body to prefer ; 
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err ; 
Alike in ignorance, his reasoning such, 
Whether he thinks too little or too much ; 
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused ; 
Still by himself abused or disabused ; 
Created half to rise^ or half to fall ; 
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all ; 
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd 
The glory, jest and riddle of the world ! " 

Such was man as viewed through the eyes of Alexander 
Pope, but few of the present generation read Pope, and yet 
mankind is much the same now as two hundred years ago, 
and for the average individual these famous lines are as true 
now as when they were first penned. 

There have been those in all ages who have devoted their 
lives to the study of man, and these have at least apprehended 
the nature of the problems involved in his origin, nature, and 
destiny, though they may have been unable to solve them. 
Most wonderful progress has indeed been made in material 

(v) 



vi Preface. 

things during the past two hundred years, and more espe- 
cially during the last half century ; yet man is still 

" The glory, jest and riddle of the world ! " 

There never was a time in the history of letters when so 
great facilities and so few barriers were presented to the study 
of man as now. Investigation is to-day practically free. 
There are no barriers to any study that does not interfere 
directly with the life, liberty and happiness of another. 
There may, indeed, be found a lurking remnant of the old 
persecution, but fortunately it is seldom marshaled in the 
name of religion. It rather issues from the camp of the 
nihilist, as a rather mild form of ridicule of him who ven- 
tures to question the realm scientifically dubbed the un- 
knowable. Yet even here the progress of science in the 
realm of nature's finer forces has been so great that the 
majority of really earnest and intelligent persons declare, that 
they are not prepared to say what is possible, and what not, 
and that they would hardly be surprised at any thing. Among 
the really devout and earnest souls it is usually enough that 
one earnestly seeks the truth for the benefit of man in order 
to enlist attention and courteous examination. The motto 
of these is any thing that is right and true for the benefit 
of humanity. It is true that there does not appear on the 
surface of things now-a-days so great "solicitude for the glory 
of God, for the reason that it has been discerned in these later 
times that the glory of God depends on the elevation of man ; 
for only as man's thoughts are purified and his life elevated 
can he seek and adore the source of all life, the bestower of all 
good, and the fountain of all truth. 



Preface. vii 

Opportunities for observing human nature in all its modes 
of life, in every degree of development, and in every clime, 
were never so great as they are to-day. One may now cir- 
cumnavigate the globe with less expenditure of time and 
money than would have been required a few years ago to 
cross a continent or a principality. 

Railroads and telegraphs have consolidated humanity. If a 
flood occurs in the Celestial Empire, a cyclone in Ceylon, or 
if two emperors meet on neutral ground to discuss the fate of 
•empires, and to consider the propriety of allowing a few thou- 
sands of their subjects to slaughter each other, we read of all 
these things in the daily press over our coffee the next morn- 
ing. We are almost able to feel the pulse and note the daily 
temperature of a sick and be-doctored emperor on the other 
side of the globe, and we are apprised of his demise before 
the services of the wrangling physicians have given place 
to those of the Royal undertaker. 

From the wonderful advancement in the art of printing have 
come the multiplication of books, the reproduction of ancient 
manuscripts, the progress of science and the arts and the gen- 
eral diffusion of learning, thus placing these treasures within 
reach of the poorest, giving them facilities once the birth- 
right of kings only. Priceless volumes are stored in public 
libraries, accessible to any who will use and not destroy ; while 
to the halls of learning the price of admission is learning 
itself, rather than the favor of princes. 

We have seen doctrines, as evolution, which were at first 
supposed to be subversive of all truth and righteousness, make 
such rapid progress that a single decade was sufficient to 
make them popular wherever comprehended, and where an- 
other decade found them involved in pulpit utterance as the 



viii Preface. 

criterion of intelligence. Religion is no longer afraid of her 
altars in the presence of any thing that can be shown to be 
true and beneficent, while the dark shadow that once glowered 
over her altars and quenched her sacred fires, has fled at the 
approach of the illuminating angel of humanity. Just in 
proportion as superstition recedes, does peace and good-will to 
man advance. No odium theologicum attaches to any depart- 
ment of learning, and no utterance made by a thoughtful 
mind and set forth with candor and decency, excites either 
surprise or alarm. A stronger weapon than even persecution 
is now recognized : namely, intelligent criticism and disproof. 

Modern science has pushed its investigations into every de- 
partment of nature. It has dredged the deepest seas, scaled 
the highest mountains, analyzed the sunbeam, and resolved 
the distant nebula. Science has rendered the hardest metals 
incandescent, and seems only to be gathering breath and 
strength before it dissolves the elements. Science has thus 
pushed experiment and analysis, instituted comparisons, 
weighed, measured, tabulated, systematized and recorded facts. 

In all this investigation no external kingdom of nature has 
been overlooked, nor escaped the argus-eyed explorer. The 
habits, modes of origin and cycles of life of plants and animals 
have been observed over a large part of the habitable globe, 
while organisms whose theater of life is invisible to the naked 
eye have been studied under the microscope till they are as 
familiar to the biologist as household words ; and while the 
brave Stanley, worthy successor to Livingston, is lost in the 
jungles of Africa the ambitious Arctic explorer dreams of an 
open polar sea. 

Comparative anatomy and comparative physiology have 
greatly enlarged our knowledge of the theater, the mechan- 



Preface. ix 

ism and the phenomena of life, while these, together with the 
study of the zoophite and the amoeba, have added greatly to 
our knowledge of the structure and functions of life in man. 

The study of sociology has been undertaken with zeal and 
intelligence, thus furnishing future students valuable material, 
if not final results. 

The last stronghold of superstition and ignorance is the psy- 
chical nature of man. While the problems in psychology are 
the last and the most difficult to be investigated, they give at 
the same time the most curious interest to the ignorant, and 
excite in the intelligent the greatest diversity of opinion. 
It might therefore be said of psychology, and might be ap^ 
plied to most of the discussions thereon, as it was once said of 
philosophy : they are treatises on a subject that no one knows 
any thing about, conducted in a language that no one under- 
stands. The reason for this condition of things may, perhaps, 
be shown in the following pages. There is certainly no lack 
of facts, no dearth of materials upon which to build the foun- 
dations, at least, of a science of psychology. The author of 
this work trusts that it may appear in the sequel that only better 
methods are needed to bring about the desired result. All such 
investigations may indeed proceed from a physical basis, though 
they all transcend physics. They may also be conducted sci- 
entifically, but must also be supplemented by synthetic proc 
esses to be derived only from a sound and far-reaching philos- 
ophy. All higher knowledge is a consensus of all experience ; 
for man, therefore, in any true sense to know his higher nat- 
ture he must have reached that plane first by experience. 
The experience of man has reached, at least in many cases, 
the threshhold of the higher knowledge. Recorded and oft- 
verified observations and experiments are not wanting ; while 



x . Preface. 

to rare psychological phenomena may also be added almost 
universal individual experience — incidents which seem to tran- 
scend the known laws of physics, and which have not been 
properly assigned and apprehended for lack of a knowledge of 
any law governing them. Science has all along attempted to 
convert subjective experience into terms of phenomenal exist- 
ence, and it could not be otherwise than that such experience 
thus dragged out of place, should appear distorted and fantas- 
tic, and should refuse to yield definite results. Moreover, 
that which is at best a method of procedure has been mis- 
taken for a result, and the dictum of science, pre-judging 
events and preventing equitable measure of facts, bids fair to 
accomplish for science what superstition has done for religion : 
namely, to place authority over truth. 

With this condition of things thus briefly outlined what 
more important and interesting field for investigation presents 
itself to the earnest student than the entire nature of man ? 
The great social problems that vex mankind await these inves- 
tigations. The principles of capital and labor, the social evil, 
the enfranchisement of woman, and the great principles of al- 
truism and egotism that underly all others, clamor for solu- 
tion, and these can never be finally determined except on a 
strict basis of law that takes cognizance of every fact in phys- 
iology and every ^principle of a true psychology ; and to ar- 
rive at these man requires more real knowledge of himself. 
The author of these pages hopes to be able to show that a 
better method in the use of the materials already on hand 
will lead up to just this knowledge, and at least will outline 
those principles that underlie the entire nature of man. 

It is often asserted that the study of medicine leads to athe- 
ism, and that a very large number of physicians are therefore 



Preface. xi 

atheists. The study of medicine is in its broadest sense the 
study of man in all his relations and manifestations. It might 
easily be shown that the proportion of atheists and material- 
ists among physicians is by no means greater thau among any 
other class of persons of equal culture and education. If, 
however, it be really true that the study of man necessarily 
leads to atheism, then it follows that ignorance of one's own 
nature is but another name for theism, and that only the ig- 
norant can believe in God. If there be danger in the di- 
rection indicated, it is the little learning that is the dan- 
gerous thing. If the study of man extends only to surface 
problems, as is too often the case, and is concerned only 
with sufficient learning to enable one to write a prescription 
and collect a fee, then the result here as elsewhere may be 
atheism, as the pursuit is measured by self-interest. Strictly 
speaking, the study of man has no more to do with the ques- 
tion of theism proper, than has the study of nature. Theism 
is an element in pantheism ; for, as shown in the following 
pages, man's idea of God is drawn equally from nature, and 
from human nature. 

The object of this work is to show that there is a modulus 
in nature and a divinity in man, and that these two are in 
essence one, and that therefore God and nature are not at 
cross-purposes. 

In pursuing the subject from its physical side only the 
barest outlines of physics and physiology have been attempted, 
sufficient, however, to show the method suggested and the line 
of investigation to be pursued. 

The writer of this book has been for many years deeply in- 
terested in all that relates to human nature, or that promises in 
any way to mitigate human suffering and increase the sum of 



xii Preface. 

human happiness. He has no peculiar views that he desires 
to impress on any one, but he believes that a somewhat differ- 
ent use of facts and materials already in our possession will 
give a deeper insight into human nature, and will secure 
far more satisfactory results than are usually attained. He 
believes that while traversing old ground, he has herein sug- 
gested the exploration of it in a new way, though by no 
means original with himself; and he is not aware of any 
previous attempt at the reconciliation of Science and Religion 
on the basis herein proposed. This reconciliation lies in the 
logical application of one universal law that is coincident with 
all nature and commensurate with all life. This law does not 
subvert, but supplements the theory of evolution, by involu- 
tion, and recognizes all processes of creation, or of being, as 
equations, the modulus of which is the underlying cosmic 
duality. 

This treatise may be epitomized as follows : 

The cosmic form in which all things are created, and in 
which all things exist, is a universal duality. 

Involution and evolution express the two-fold process of the 
one law of development, corresponding to the two planes of 
being, the subjective and the objective. Consciousness is the 
central fact of being. 

Experience is the only method of knowing ; therefore to 
know is to become. 

The Modulus of Nature, that is, the pattern after which she 
every-where builds, and the method to which she continually 
conforms, is an Ideal or Archetypal Man. 

The Perfect Man is the anthropomorphic God, a living, 
present Christ in every human soul. 

Two natures meet on the human plane and are focalized in 



Preface. xiii 

man. These are the animal ego, and the higher self; the 
one, an inheritance from lower life, the other an overshadow- 
ing from the next higher plane. 

The animal principle is selfishness ; the divine principle is 
altruism. 

However defective in other respects human nature may be, 
all human endeavor must finally be measured by the principle 
of altruism, and must stand or fall by the measure in which 
it inspires and uplifts humanity. 

Literary criticism, however justifiable and however valu- 
able, is not the highest tribunal; were it so, the following 
pages would never have seen the light. The highest tribunal 
is the criterion of truth, and the test of truth is by its use 
and beneficence. 

Superstition is not religion ; speculation is not philosophy ; 
materialism is not science ; but true religion, true philosophy, 
and true science are ever the hand-maids of truth. 

The study of man by himself should, first of all, point out 
the possibility of improvement, and so far as possible suggest 
the methods, and indicate the means by which improvement 
may be realized. This is the motive which has brought out 
this work, and no one can be more sensible of its many defects 
than its author. If, however, this book should encourage an 
abler pen to more competent endeavor in the same direction, 
the most sanguine expectations of its author will have been 
realized. 

The writer's most sincere acknowledgments are due to his 
friend and co-laborer, Dr. J. M. Crawford, whose ripe schol- 
arship, now so widely recognized in his translation of the 
Kalevala, has greatly improved these pages. The conscien- 
tiousness with which he has sought to preserve the exact 



xiv Preface. 

meaning of the author, while critically reviewing these pages, 
is as creditable as his scholarship is commendable. 

With this introduction, this book is given to the reader in 
the hope that it may encourage and uplift, though it be but a 
little, that great orphan, Humanity. 

J. D. B. 

Cincinnati, O., November 20, 1888. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Preface, v 

General introduction, thesis : the cosmic form a universal 
duality : involution and evolution the two-fold process of 
one, law of development, corresponding to the two planes of 
being, the objective and the subjective : consciousness tht 
central fact of being : experience the only method of know- 
ing : the modulus of nature : the anthropomorphic God, . xiv 

CHAPTER I. 

The Criterion of Truth, 5 

Personality : self-interest : the misuse of words : traditional 
authority : individual bias, hereditary and educational : the 
questioning of authority : jurisdiction of religion attd sci- 
ence : religious truth : scientific truth : philosophic truth : 
the unity and sacredness of all truth : the meaning of or- 
thodoxy : the opinions of men and the truth of revelation : 
the dicta of science : truth in one department as sacred as 
in any other : the responsibility of the investigator : Chris- 
tian science : the testimony of science : absolute truth : the 
evidence of the senses : consciousness ignored : the unity 
of nature and of man : outline of the problem involved : the 
relation of consciousness J.o the objective and subjective 
worlds, and to experience : man's intellectual kingdom : 
conditions of man's progress, ...... 22 

CHAPTER II. 

Matter and Force, 23 

Primordial atoms : hypothetical atoms : the vortices of Des- 
cartes : the monads of Leibnitz : the test of theory : the 
discovery of law : the eternity of matter and force and the 
persistence* of motion : correlation and conservation of 
force : Mr. Keely's vibratory energy : Mr. Crookes' radiant 

(xv) 



xvi Table of Contents. 

Matter and Force — Continued. 

t matter : laws against hypnotism : the force of scientific 
dicta : Plato and the Hindoo philosophies : experiments on 
sound waves : consonant ryhthm : the form of crystals : 
every atom of matter set to music : polarization : magnetism 
the substratum of both matter and force : compounds : the 
idea of space : unparticled matter and the universal ether : 
the evidence of analogy : the natural and the spiritual, so- 
called, 39 

CHAPTER III. 

The Phenomenal World, 40 

Man's relations to physics : universal motion implies ceaseless 
change : nothing is what it seems : the relation of experi- 
ence to consciousness : creation divides into halves : matter 
external body, spirit internal essence : the loves of the atoms: 
positive and negative poles : attraction and repulsion : the 
phenomenal character of the senses : ideas of space and 
time: Sensorium Dei: the consciousness of nature: invis- 
ible worlds the counterpart of the visible : involution and 
evolution : the human equation : every subject may be 
viewed from two sides : self-preservation the alpha and 
omega of egotism : altruism the highest law of nature : the 
key : the phenomenal and the noumenal made one, . . 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

Philosophy and Science, 48 

The basis of all knowledge : learning and knowing : the rela- 
tion of thought to consciousness : thought builds and per- 
fects the brain : precipitated results of thought in conscious- 
ness: analysis and synthesis: experience, reason, intuition, 
and consciousness : the experience of others, the dicta of 
science, and the dogmas of religion: universal methods: 
materialist, theorist, and philosopher : knowledge of self 
and knowledge of God, ....... 53 

CHAPTER V. 
Life, . .54 

The all-pervading life : concrete degrees and innumerable 
forms of life : knowledge of relations only : the transmission 



Table of Contents. xvii 

Life — Contimied. 

of life: the cycle of life: spontaneous generation: the 
germ theory : living matter and germs : Proteus : defini- 
tion of an organism : comparison of protoplasm and organ- 
ism : amoebae : nutrition the basic function of organisms : 
the cycle of life : effect of chloroform on living matter : ir- 
ritability, sensibility, and consciousness : the unity of con- 
sciousness : the law of development : all lower nature climbs 
toward man ; and man climbs toward divinity : natural se- 
lection and divine selection, 64 

CHAPTER VI. 
Polarity, 65 

Polarity characteristic of magnetism : its sign-manual : the 
voltaic battery : magnetism elongates a bar of iron : the law 
of magnetic attraction : the theories of Descartes and Am- 
pere : pure force separate from matter is unthinkable : th$ 
matrix of matter and the potency of force : special modes 
of motion as related to magnetism : diamagnetism : the 
positing of a center of life : concentric and eccentric waves 
of motion : the cosmic duality: sex: polarity as related to 
the human body : disturbed polarity : a corpse is a de-polar- 
ized mass: the phenomena of fear: no unity without dual- 
ity : the Fathernood of God and the Motherhood of Na- 
ture, ^ 75 

CHAPTER VII. 
Living Forms, 76 

The cosmic form a universal duality : male and female : Adam 
Cadman : involution and evolution : every form in nature 
is a duality : every perfect unity a harmonious duality : 
cosmos evolved out of chaos : ideal forms evolved from 
earthly shapes : spirit broods over matter : nature builds by 
law through pure mathematics : man is taught by suffering, 
and suffers that he may teach : creeds and fossils : man the 
epitome of all : the human embryo and the law of develop- 
ment : community of function in lower forms : differentia- 
tion in higher forms : the principle of development : the 
cerebral lobes : how they are to be regarded : evolution 
alone insufficient : life tendency diffused throughout all 
matter: all lower forms of life are fragments of the human: 



xviii Table of Contents. 

Living Forms — Continued. 

the higher animals rudimentary human beings : inheritance 
and environment : the ideal form an overshadowing pres- 
ence : selfishness and charity : egotism and altruism : tissue, 
cell, germ, ovum, fertilization : the process of reproduction : 
aggregation and segregation : the origin of form : fertiliza- 
tion a double process : the positing of a center of life and 
the unfolding of a still interior center of consciousness, 95 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Planes of Life, .96 

Magnetism and life : the life principle pervades all matter : 
differentiation and the ebb and flow of life : no fast lines 
between living and non-living matter : successive planes of 
life from lowest to highest: vain efforts to. discover the 
missing links in the chain of human forms : one plane of 
life overlaps or overshadows another : every human person- 
ality is a composite body : man's relation to all surrounding 
life: the meaning of man's birthright: the predominance 
of one plane: physical, vital, sensuous, intellectual, and 
spiritual personalities : the animal in rags and the animal 
in broadcloth: human tigers and hyenas: every individual 
possesses a definite amount of energy : gymnastic exercise 
and ideal development : the ideal is not reached without a 
struggle : the way to reach the highest plane, . . . 107 

CHAPTER IX. 
Human Life, .... 108 

Universality of the principles of development : difficult prob- 
lems become easy of solution when once we have the key : 
from the physico-vital plane man appears as a highly-devel- 
oped animal : viewed from the higher plane man appears as 
an undeveloped god : the lower nature can not comprehend 
the higher : the soul recognizes its kindred by sympathy, 
which means equality: how to view subjective experiences: 
the principle of equations : man's life now exists in two 
worlds, the natural and the spiritual : the work of modern 
biology : hysterical epidemics of the middle ages : the influ- 
ence of sex : the case of Angelique Cottin : the chamber of 
birth often a chamber of torture : the sorrows of child- 



Table of Contents. xix 

Human Life — Continued. 

hood: unwelcome children: the uncertain tenure of life: 
the testimony of anatomy : the manifestation of life phe- 
nomenal : evolution of the germ and embryo ; the elixir of 
life : the miracle of birth : the tragedy of inheritance : ante- 
natal conditions : the nutritive changes in development 
from germ to birth : senso-genesis, conscio-genesis, and bio- 
genesis : the body of man a magnet : disturbed equilibrium : 
evil passions promote physical disease : the common multi- 
ple and the keynote of life : respiratory motion : every vital 
problem is an equation to be solved : age is youth reversed : 
the phenomena of function : the intimate relations of all 
parts of the body : the phenomena of disease : conscious- 
ness an alembic of the life experience, . . . -155 

CHAPTER X. 
The Nervous System, 156 

The development of nerve tissue : reserved areas : the effect 
of repeated transmission in perfecting tissue and function : 
the physical basis of education : sensibility, sensation, and 
consciousness: the nerve arc : transmission and registration 
of impressions : the physical basis of memory : centers of 
life and centers of consciousness : development of the sense 
of feeling : the world epitomized in the consciousness of 
man : the motive of action : good and evil as related to 
heredity : no builder like Dame Nature : the common mul- 
tiple of nature : the reasoning faculty : knowledge and ex- 
perience : real knowledge an exact equation : self-conquest : 
true magic : will and imagination : the place where two 
ways meet : the race for riches : the discovery of printing, 
and inductive philosophy: society at war with itself: cap- 
ital and labor : the masses and the classes : communism : 
no permanent endowment of life in matter : rejuvenes- 
cence : the colloidal body and the psychic sense : clairvoy- 
ance and clair-audience: little Helen Keller and other 
psychics : zest in life : senile imbecility : the laws of habit : 
automatism : imagination and will : lust and love : the 
enfranchisement of woman, • 196 



xx Table of Contents. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Consciousness, 197 

Consciousness the prime factor in all individual experience : 
subjective consciousness : complete self-consciousness impos- 
sible unless the lower faculties are controlled by the higher: 
complete self-consciousness implies complete self-control: 
Sleep-walking, double consciousness : disturbed conscious- 
ness in the insane : delirium produced by alcohol and 
opium: subjective prototypes: imagination and the ideal 
world : the supreme folly of trying to deduce consciousness 
from matter : thimble-rigging psychology : dealing with the 
dead : mediumship and unconscious cerebration : the undis- 
covered country: the subjective world is the counterpart of 
the objective: consciousness remains even in senile imbe- 
cility long after memory has departed : the rounding up of 
experience in the two worlds : re-incarnation and the doc- 
trine of rewards and punishments : the wicked obey the 
law through fear, the wise keep the law through knowl- 
edge : he that is dead to the world is alive to God : educa- 
tion can not repair the defects of birth : three states of con- 
sciousness known to every one: spiritualism a psychological 
babel: the unholy trinity: the subjective plane of being 
must be subjectively discerned : man here and now is a ma- 
terialized spirit if there is one anywhere, . . . .219 

CHAPTER XII. 
Health and Disease, 220 

Magnetism and life : the creator and destroyer are one : mag- 
netism the source of vitality : life is something beyond all 
matter and force : life every-where diffused and one in kind : 
health as harmony: the relation and the dependence of 
structure and function: the relation of mind and body: pre- 
vailing methods of regarding health and disease are faulty: 
hysteria and hypochondria : all evil passions vitiate the 
bodily secretions and destroy health: mind is the immediate 
agent of the conscious ego : mind and body the servants of 
the real man : the order and the design of nature : the real 
meaning of health and harmony: the ego sits a king upon 
his throne: there is no tyrant like disease: crime but 
another name for disease: the rule of nature the greatest 



Table of Contents. xxi 

Health and Disease — Continued. 

good to all : the laws of health are few and simple : inher- 
ited disease how cured : incurable cases : quacks and patent 
medicines : training-schools for nurses : mental states both 
the cause and the cure of disease : mental exaltation : im- 
perfect man is no magician: cheerfulness promotes health: 
ante-natal conditions : too little attention paid to the promo- 
tion and preservation of health: reforms in medicine: 
knowledge of man's nature will banish the fear of death : 
all disease arises as disturbed function : acute and chronic 
diseases : all cures claimed by the doctor, all deaths charged 
to Providence: the result of the diffusion of a knowledge of 
man: mind-cure and other crazes: self-limiting and func- 
tional diseases often arise and are cured through the imag- 
ination: the outcome of the new craze: the ideal life: no 
royal road to health or to learning among the devices of 
man : nature's ideals : mental, moral and spiritual diseases : 
the perfection of man, 251 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Sanity and Insanity, 252 

Health of body and health of mind inseparably connected: 
whole nations as well as individuals revert to barbarism: 
the rage of the insane like that of wild beasts : increase of 
insanity: perversion of religious ideals: the ideal life, how 
attained : how body and mind are deformed : the influence 
of greed in promoting insanity: influence of false ideas on 
the masses: the identity of the ideals of health and relig- 
ion: health must finally echo the harmony of nature, and 
sanity reflect the Divine Intelligence, . . . . .. 262 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Involution and Evolution of Man, 263 

The theater of evolution: evolution alone insufficient: all 
processes in nature are equations of which evolution con- 
stitutes one member: duality and manifestation are synony- 
mous: evolution promotes progress but does not account 
for ideal forms : involution supplements evolution : nature 
not soul-less nor God-less : the lower forms of life prophesy 
of man while man is a prophecy of still higher forms : mine 
and thine: the selfish and the devout are often equally 



xxii Table of Contents. 

Involution and Evolution of Man — Continued. 

time-serving: the sequence of evolution and the sequence 
of inspiration arrive at the same result, namely, the perfect 
man, 279 

CHAPTER XV. 

iThe Higher Self, 280 

The Archetypal Man : the lost and the saved hereafter : mod- 
ern life and ancient creeds: materialists, agnostics and en- 
thusiasts: soul and spirit: the change called death: man's 
idea of God, of Nature, and of himself: immaculate concep- 
tion: Christ the ideal man: the accomplishment of the 
Divine Will : the selfish ego and the altruistic self: the mys- 
tery of self-consciousness: double consciousness and double 
life: Margrave compelled to speak the truth: the name of 
the Lord : self-consciousness and divine-consciousness : the 
necessary conditions of a final philosophy: the era and the 
mission of woman, 302 



A STUDY OF MAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CRITERION OF TRUTH. 

Personality is the most patent fact, and the most 
potent factor in the life of man ; it tinges all he 
touches, and is the colored glass through which he 
views the world. The average individual finds it ex- 
ceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to avoid an in- 
herent tendency to convert all problems that present 
themselves in thought or life into terms of self-inter- 
est. So true is this principle, and. so general its op- 
eration, that it is exceedingly doubtful if any word 
in any language conveys precisely the same meaning 
to any two persons ; hence arise the misuse and mis- 
interpretation of words as the most prolific source of 
the disagreements of men. Both candor and charity 
compel the affirmation, that truth in its larger sense, 
has suffered more from those who have misconceived 
and misinterpreted it, than from those who have 
knowingly or willfully opposed it. 

For the great majority of mankind the sole crite- 
rion of truth is traditional authority. Not only does 
this hold in matters of religion, codes of ethics, and 

(5) 



6 A Study of Man. 

civil rights, but the whole tenor of individual life is 
determined by birth and geographical location. So 
also in matters of science, the authority of a great 
name is considered sufficient evidence for most per- 
sons who cultivate this department of knowledge ; 
while only a small minority undertake to examine 
the evidence on which a verdict in any case is sup- 
posed to have been based. It thus transpires that in 
most departments of human thought and human en- 
deavor, a few individuals virtually do the thinking 
for the masses, and by appealing to the prejudices 
and self-interests of the many, they are enabled to 
hold in check another minority over whom tradi- 
tional authority has but slight control; and even 
where the traditional dictum is taken with some 
grains of allowance, it is still considered as accepted 
unless openly repudiated. The great majority of 
people adhere to the religious forms into which they 
happened to be born, and upon the truth or falsity of 
which they have not been called upon to pronounce. 
By education these matters have been so thoroughly 
ingrained, and so much pains has been taken to ren- 
der their hold binding and lasting, that it is really 
strange that any are able to throw off the yoke of 
authority. Either fortunately or unfortunately, the 
number of those who are able to break away from 
traditional authority has very largely increased with- 
in the past few decades, while within traditional 
lines there is every- where a questioning of authori- 



The Criterion of Truth. 7 

ties, a murmur of discontent presaging a warring of 
elements in the atmosphere of religious belief. 

So-called religious truth a century or two ago as- 
sumed jurisdiction even over secular matters, and 
finally relinquished to science, though with great re- 
luctance, the domain of physics and cosmogony, "but 
only on condition of receiving absolute authority in 
its own realm. In this age religious truth and scien- 
tific truth are one, and that, the highest and most im- 
portant of human knowledge and human interest. 
In short, the element of progress of to-day, pushed 
on by the spirit of investigation, has entered every 
realm of knowledge, and subjected it to searching in- 
vestigation. One of the inevitable results of all this 
questioning has been to suggest to the less thought- 
ful that nothing sacred in any realm remains. A 
little deeper thought will show that nothing in the 
way of real knowledge can be regarded as unclean or 
secular; it will show that all truth is given by inspi- 
ration, and that every true revelation of nature is a 
divine revelation to man. The reason for all these 
changes is not far to seek. The element of man's 
personality already mentioned, and which colors all 
he touches, lies at the root of these changes in indi- 
vidual belief and public sentiment. The battle at 
this point has been a severe one ; and the issues are 
not even yet decided, though they are in no way un- 
certain. In the ebb and flow of generation after 
generation, ancient records and sacred traditions 



8 A Study of Man. 

have been so modified by special pleading, and so in- 
corporated with human interest, that thousands of 
honest seekers after truth have been sacrificed under 
the cloak of authority because they dared to question 
the prevailing interpretation of these writings. It is 
a matter of history that Michael Servetus, the earlier 
discoverer of the circulation of the blood, and one of 
the brightest minds of the age in which he lived, 
was burned to death in a slow fire of green wood, 
not because he denied or disbelieved the Bible, nor 
was in any way lacking in religious devotion, but be- 
cause he dared to take issue with an ignorant, arro- 
gant and vindictive priest in power, who intimidated 
his fellow-priests to help execute his revenge on a 
brother who had the better of him in an argument. 
If so-called Divine revelation were every-where ex- 
plicit, thus requiring no interpreters, and appealing 
directly to the conscience and understanding of man, 
it would be at once shorn of the element of human 
weakness and error. That which in any age is meant 
by the word orthodox has little reference to any book, 
or any tradition claimed to be divine, but to certain 
interpretations which men, weak and ignorant like 
ourselves, have from time to time put upon such rec- 
ords and traditions. It is high time that this fact 
should be clearly apprehended by ev^ery one who as- 
sumes the prerogative of thinking for himself, be- 
cause the knowledge of this fact will enable him to 
discriminate, and while questioning, as he has the 



The Criterion of Truth. 9 

right to do, the opinions of others, he will not be so 
ready to deny and repudiate the sacred "Word. No 
department of human endeavor reveals more of the 
weakness, the ignorance and the arrogance of man, 
and his propensity to disagree and denounce, than 
his efforts to interpret the Scriptures. These records 
have reached us through the infirmities of speech, 
through the imperfections of human language, and 
further filtered through the weaknesses of human 
nature. Through these avenues only has any truth 
been transmitted from Deity to man. 

The parables and symbols of the great religions 
contain more intrinsic truth, and more co-ordinate 
harmony than any verbal explanation of man has 
yet given to the world ; and that which, more than 
all other causes combined, has hitherto prevented 
these grand truths from reaching the masses, is the 
conceit and arrogance with which ignorance has 
clung to her false interpretations, thus making it in 
former times well-nigh impossible, and in later times 
exceedingly difficult for the earnest seeker to find the 
real truth. 

Whenever man has attempted to explain the symbols 
which so largely constitute the sacred records of all 
religions, without a full comprehension of the truth 
so symbolized, he has invariably made confusion more 
confounded. In these later days, when a larger and 
deeper apprehension of truth in every direction is 
dawning on the human race, and when freedom to 



10 A Study of Man. 

pursue truth, into every hiding-place, has brought the 
conviction that such a pursuit is not only man's high- 
est prerogative, but also his binding duty, there is 
reason to believe that the truth underlying the outer 
form of the sacred text is slowly being apprehended. 
As Carlisle puts it : "All visible things are emblems. 
What thou seest is not there on its own account ; 
strictly speaking is not there at all. Matter exists 
only spiritually, and to represent some idea and body 
it forth." 

"What we call the authority of science is largely de- 
termined by the latest utterances of its most intelli- 
gent cultivators. These utterances are generally 
guarded and usually just, setting forth the weak as 
well as the strong points of any hypothesis with 
equal care and conscientiousness. A large majority, 
however, of so-called scientists overlook these quali- 
fications, and set forth the new theory as a fact, and 
then quote the masters in science as authority for 
their statements. Thus we find this burden of au- 
thority in one form or another, pre-empting the fer- 
tile domains of human knowledge, so that it is often 
more difficult to get rid of the old squatter with his 
false title, than it is to locate and record the new- 
comer with his fee-simple. 

It may thus be seen that the approaches to knowl- 
edge are seriously obstructed by zeal and self-inter- 
est; and that great fortitude is necessary to scale the 



The Criterion of Truth, 11 

foot-hills, before beginning to ascend the delectable 
mountains of truth. 

So far as the evidence of truth is based on human 
authority, that evidence is, therefore, always open to 
criticism; and the truth itself, no matter where it 
may be found and by whatsoever name it may be de- 
signated, is a legitimate subject for study and re-in- 
vestigation. Truth in one department of knowledge 
is as divine as in any other, when it is once seen that 
it is the truth alone that is sacred, and not the depart- 
ments man has erected, nor the barriers he has laid 
across her pathway. Every sincere seeker for the 
simple truth, therefore, carries with him his patent to 
investigate for himself; this patent being a part of 
his direct inheritance from his Creator. He must 
not forget, however, that this unalienable right has 
coupled with it the duty of honest service, and that 
this service is to follow every sincere conviction. It 
is an old doctrine of the church that the repudiation 
of authority incurs grave responsibility. He who 
would shirk the responsibility is in no wise worthy of 
the freedom to think and act for himself, nor will he 
long enjoy such freedom, for the bondage of fear is 
always the hand-maid of superstition, and the service 
of truth can alone make man free. 

Human knowledge naturally divides into depart- 
ments, as physics and metaphysics, science and art, 
while the department designated as religion, howso- 
ever mixed it may be with superstition, is not generally 



12 A Study of Man. 

supposed to bear any relation to other departments of 
knowledge. As religion is in the province of man, 
and as it involves a large part of his activities and 
largely determines his conduct, the sincere truth- 
seeker will be unable to avoid it if he should so de- 
sire, for if his purpose be sincere, his search-warrant 
is absolute. 

The various departments of knowledge are often 
conceived as being at war with each other. The di- 
rect inference is, that each being true, truth is there- 
fore at war with itself. Such an inference, however, is 
absurd ; for the most patent sign of falsehood is, al- 
ways and every-where, disagreement. Falsehood in- 
variably contradicts itself; truth, never. Therefore, if 
discrepancies arise between the different departments 
of knowledge, it places thereby suspicion on all; but 
it must be remembered that this suspicion rests solely 
on the human side of the equation, and in no sense 
pertains to truth itself. The personal lens of colored 
glass may make truth appear to one red and to an- 
other blue, like the two sides of the shield in the old 
fable : but this can only be the pure white light of 
truth separated into its component colors by the per- 
sonal lens. But if every individual is to use his own 
lens, as indeed he must, he should also remember 
that his is but one of many colors, and that the tints 
and shades due to combinations are practically limit- 
less. If he will also bear in mind that truth itself is 



The Criterion of Truth. 13 

both tintless and taintless, lie will never insist that 
his own is the one true color. 

It may easily be seen that many of the expressions 
in common use not only arise from misapprehension 
and inadvertency, but that they are necessarily and 
directly the cause of error. The terms, scientific 
truth, philosophic truth, religious truth, would seem to 
imply that truth in one of these departments differs 
from truth in another. It will presently be shown, 
that not only is truth itself hereby misapprehended, 
but that these very departments are by no means com- 
prehended. Our investigations, therefore, might be- 
gin with the inquiry, What is philosophy ? "What is 
science ? What is religion ? before we inquire, What 
is truth? 

One of the most popular errors of the day is the 
somewhat notorious use of the term " Christian sci- 
ence," in a manner that reveals great ignorance of 
both terms thus employed. The inference is that 
Christian science is something entirely different from 
any other science. If arrogance in statement, if con- 
tention and strife for priority in promulgation, and 
if exorbitant fees and concealment of so-called truth 
be essentially Christian, then the Sermon on the 
Mount must be un-Christian. Not only has enough 
of these costly secrets leaked out to show that not a 
single new secret is therein contained, but that far 
more and better can be had elsewhere for the asking. 
The only new thing is the fencing this old subject in 



14 A Study of Man. 

with a new name for purposes of exorbitant revenue, 
to be derived by imposing on the ignorant and credu- 
lous. Many of the principles contained are unde- 
niably true, and many of its cultivators are people of 
bigb life and unblemished character. Like so many 
other cases, however, known to all history, they are 
better than their creed. Arrogance, avarice, and 
strife, even when found under the sacred name of 
truth, lead inevitably to but one destiny : confusion 
and desolation. 

All scientific testimony is said by Huxley to de- 
pend on " valid evidence, and sound reasoning." 
While the rules of logic are now so well defined that 
among educated people there will be little disagree- 
ment as to what constitutes " sound reasoning," dif- 
ferent scholars will differ necessarily as to what con- 
stitutes " valid evidence." Such, however, is one of 
the latest utterances of physical science, put forth by 
one of its foremost cultivators, a man as competent 
to judge of evidence in the domain he specially cul- 
tivates as any man living. It must be seen, if his defi- 
nition of what constitutes scientific evidence is to be 
universally accepted, that instead of laying the foun- 
dation for real evidence and becoming a criterion of 
truth, it can only stand in the service of authority, 
or disappear at the first encounter of rival factions in 
his own beloved field. Huxley's whole life, however, 
has been one pronounced and dignified protest against 
this very giant, authority. Let us not forget that 



The Criterion of Truth. 15 

falsity always and every- where not only contradicts 
itself, but contradicts truth as well ; while truth con- 
tradicts falsity, but always, and every- where, it agrees 
with itself. Not only must every fact in physics 
agree with every other fact ; every theorem of meta- 
physics be capable of reconciliation with every other 
theorem; and every truth in religion agree with 
every other truth ; but every fact, theorem, and truth 
in all the departments of universal knowledge must 
agree from beginning to end. No human mind has 
ever been able to determine and to comprehend this 
universal reconciliation. Such a mind would be able 
to comprehend and formulate absolute truth. Every 
searcher "for truth who realizes that he has not 
reached the goal where all seeking ends in absolute 
knowing, may, nevertheless, realize that these condi- 
tions and relations belong to truth, the essence of 
which he does not comprehend. He may thence de- 
duce the proposition : that the apprehension of knowl- 
edge consists quite as much in removing discrepan- 
cies, and irreconcilable paradoxes, as in the study of 
truths clearly demonstrated. Any knowledge that 
man may acquire can come to him only through his 
own personal investigations. He might as well ex- 
pect his body to be nourished by the food that 
another has eaten, as to expect his mind to be cul- 
tured by another's thoughts or experiences. Blind 
intellectual belief — a sort of self-delusion — may pos- 
sibly be thus derived ; but true knowledge and true 



16 A Study of Man. 

faith, never. The basis of all knowledge is experi- 
ence. The test of all knowledge is use. In the pur- 
suit and attainment of knowledge two processes, sen- 
sation and reason, are always combined, whether 
consciously or unconsciously. These processes con- 
cern " valid evidence and sound reasoning," but these 
are processes in the acquirement of evidence, not in 
the evidence itself. These pertain solely to the mind 
that investigates truth ; while truth itself is entirely 
another matter. For instance, our senses tell us that 
a certain thing is hot, but they do not tell us what 
heat is. In this way we learn only our relations to 
heat, and its effect upon us. To a fabled race of sal- 
amanders, or to a man clothed in asbestos, heat ap- 
pears to be a very different thing indeed ; yet in this 
case it has not changed its essential character. Fur- 
thermore, so simple a sensation as that of heat is 
under no circumstances experienced in the same de- 
gree by any two individuals. 

By " valid evidence " is undoubtedly meant evidence 
of the senses ; and while under certain general condi- 
tions there is, no doubt, universal agreement, this 
criterion can only approximate or lead up to real evi- 
dence ; and that, too, only from the physical point of 
view. In all that pertains to objective phenomena, 
evidence is derived through the senses by analysis 
and by experiment ; and the validity of such testi- 
mony is determined by repetition, by corroboration, 
and by sound reasoning. We have evidence of the 



The Criterion of Truth. 17 

senses approved and confirmed by reason, and human 
methods weighed by human judgment. The mind, 
which is here said to reason on the evidence of the 
senses, is supposed to be the result of physical devel- 
opment, the so-called function of the brain. Here 
the thing examined, the senses by which it is ex- 
amined, and the mind by which the evidence is 
weighed and measured, are all of the same general 
character, viz., phenomenal. The natural manifesta- 
tion, the evidence, and the judgment depend upon 
motion. Consciousness as a fact, and as a factor, is 
either virtually left out of the question, or in the di- 
lemma to which its admission as a factor gives rise is 
classed with mind, and put in the same category with 
the results of physical evolution. The difficulty to 
which such action leads can not be either ignored or 
explained away. It results in the forced explanation 
of subjective experience in terms of objective phe- 
nomena, and eventually to the practical elimination 
of the subjective factor. If sueh a result were true 
and found adequate to cover all human experiences, 
nothing could be said against it and every thing for it. 
We can never solve an equation by dealing only with 
one of its members, and the cosmic or human equa- 
tion is no exception. Whenever a really thoughtful 
and intelligent person is willing to be written down 
an out-and-out materialist, it is evidence that he is 
vainly trying to solve the equation of life by dealing 
2 



18 A Study of Man. 

only with, one of its members. He may still imagine 
that the methods he employs, and which lead to un- 
satisfying results, will, in the future, lead to conclu- 
sions more satisfactory. It is part of his nihilism, 
however, to conclude that no better results are possi- 
ble to any one. If he could be led to see that the 
fault lies solely in his methods, and that by ignoring 
one member of his equation he has made logical and 
faultless solution impossible, he might undertake to 
improve his methods. These better methods may be 
learned in the growth of a blade of grass, no less than 
in the bloom and beauty of the lilies of the field. 
The process by which we learn, is the one process by 
which nature builds. Nature is never at cross-pur- 
poses with herself, else she could never have evolved 
cosmos out of chaos, nor created the everlasting 
foundations of truth. 

The following suggestions are a mere outline of the 
factors and conditions involved in this problem. 

Take man as we find him. Let us now sup- 
pose him to be divided into two equal parts for 
a working hypothesis. Let us call one part the 
objective, and the other the subjective. Hence we 
would have objective and subjective nature ; object- 
ive and subjective man. Let us consider analogy 
the bridge, or process, whereby, in our investigations, 
we may pass from one condition to the other. Let 
us call matter and spirit the two poles of one sub- 
stance. The theater for the display of matter is then 



The Criterion of Truth. 19 

the material, the physical, the phenomenal, the ob- 
jective, or the natural world. The theater for the 
operation of spirit is the subjective, spiritual, or nou- 
menal world. Man being a part of this dual world of 
matter and spirit, his nature is derived from both. 
It is of no consequence now in what degree, or in 
what proportion, for man's equation is not yet solved; 
at best, it is only in process of solution. Let us, fur- 
ther, consider consciousness as the central fact in 
man's being ; and let us diagrammatically figure con- 
sciousness as a central point between his two condi- 
tions — the natural and the spiritual. Let us remem- 
ber that, while we know nothing of the real essence 
of consciousness, we may, nevertheless, study it as a 
fact, and discover its relations to the objective and 
subjective in man. Let us think of the origin of self- 
consciousness in man as the very center and quintes- 
sence of the germ from which his bodily fabric has 
been evolved ; and that it has grown and expanded 
with his growth, including the natural and spiritual 
nature, adjusting itself to all conditions and relations 
of structure and function within and without. Let 
us, further, consider the growth and development of 
the germ and all its subsequent unfolding in the life 
of man, as an evolution of form and faculty on the 
outer physical plane ; and, again, as an involution of 
essence and type from the spiritual or subjective 
plane — consciousness expanding as the body expands 
and as function unfolds, but always maintaining the 



20 A Study of Man. 

same relations to structure and function, and always 
seeking equilibrium in the eccentric and concentric 
life of man. 

We have here a logical and wholly consecutive un- 
folding of human life on the two planes of existence 
first predicated. We have these three factors con- 
cerned in all processes of thinking or knowing, viz., 
objective being, consciousness and subjective being. 
It is generally agreed that experience is the basis and 
the condition of all knowing. Experience, then, may 
pertain largely to either side of the equation, though 
it can entirely ignore neither ; for to disregard one 
member is to annul the foundation and conditions of 
life itself. Now let us conceive that life consists in 
the translation of the two worlds, the natural, and 
the spiritual, into terms of consciousness, through ex- 
perience of both ; and that the brain-pictures, or all 
strictly mental operations, consist of the combined 
experiences derived from these two sources, reflected 
back upon the super-sensitive cerebral convolutions, 
and thus constituting man's intellectual world — his 
personal kingdom created through his individual ex- 
periences. We then see the depth of meaning in the 

verse : 

" My mind to me a kingdom is." 

This concept renders a spiritual thinkable as the 
counterpart and complement of the natural. There 
is far more in support of this universal equation than 
at first appears. The physical world thus becomes 



The Criterion of Truth. 21 

but the embodiment and manifestation of the spirit- 
ual, in terms of matter, space, time and motion. In 
other words, it becomes the concentration of the 
ideal, the spiritual; and. the spiritual becomes the 
natural idealized or perfected. True progress for 
man is a straight-forward climbing, on the rundles of 
experience, up the ladder of light, from a lower to a 
higher being; while retrogression is a journeying in 
the opposite direction, and leads to dissolution and 
destruction. 

Something akin to this conception must have been 
in the mind of Thomas Carlyle when he wrote: 
" Matter exists only spiritually, and to represent some 
idea and body it forth." 

If to experience is to know ; then to know is to 
become. To know the truth is to become the truth. 
Hence the evidence of the senses is partial testimony 
derived only from one side of being; and, no matter 
how logically such evidence may be used in reason- 
ing, so long as it is unsupplemented by evidence 
reaching consciousness from the other side of man's 
being, it may lead to opinions, and be assigned a 
place in the intellectual kingdom of man ; but it can 
play no part in the everlasting kingdom of truth. 
Science and psychology are in no sense formulated 
results, but simply methods, when rightly appre- 
hended and correctly used. Neither process alone can 
ever arrive at absolute truth. Science may discover 
facts; psychology may disclose principles; and the 



22 A Study of Man. 

co-operation of both, as methods, may aid the under- 
standing of man in the apprehension of truth. 
Hence the expressions, scientific truth, philosophic 
truth, and metaphysic truth, are misnomers. All sci- 
ence is philosophic ; all philosophy is scientific; and 
all true religion is scientific, philosophic and meta- 
physic. Both science and psychology are religious, 
so far as the natural province of one touches upon or 
overlaps the other; for each is hut a method whereby 
the consciousness of man, which is one, seeks truth, 
which is also one. The criterion of truth for man, 
lies not in the estimate of the senses, nor in a specific 
process of reasoning upon phenomena confined to 
one-half of his nature ; but in the co-ordinate har- 
mony which he is able to bring out of the chaos of all 
his varied experiences. The disharmony and jarring 
discord belong to man ; the harmony and pleasing 
concord, in all their fullness of beauty, belong to 
truth ; and when all discord disappears, and universal 
concord appears, then truth will belong to man. 
Then, and then only, will man and truth be one. To 
know is to live the truth. 



CHAPTER II. 

MATTER AND FORCE. 

Though scientists have hitherto been unable to 
agree as to the essential nature and constitution of 
matter, and though they confess their entire igno- 
rance of the essence of force, yet no one who has 
given the subject any serious consideration will for a 
moment doubt that matter, in some form, has always 
existed. Certain writers may attach arbitrary mean- 
ings to such expressions as primordial atoms, and 
claim for science itself that certainty and exactness 
for which it every- where seeks credence. It is well 
to remember that, on many occasions, the foremost 
advocates of science have confessed their entire ig- 
norance of the final constitution of things ; and that, 
at best, they only entertain hypotheses, in support of 
which they have only probabilities to urge. Even 
these may disappear to-morrow in the light of some 
larger discovery. The highways of knowledge are 
every- where strewn with the wrecks of old hypothe- 
ses, though many of the fragments may still be rec- 
ognized in the newer structures that have replaced 
them. Thus the vortices of Descartes appear in 
latest theories as the inter-molecular spaces or dyna- 
spheres ; and the monads of Leibnitz are largely trib- 

(23) 



24 A Study of Man. 

utaiy to our idea of atoms and molecules. In chem- 
istry, many of the old ideas may still be recognized 
in their new dress, and in spite of an entirely new 
nomenclature. 

The test of a theory is its application to fact, and 
to the sequence of its relations to other facts and 
theories. E"o theory, applicable to very wide groups 
of facts, is ever quite satisfactory in all cases. When- 
ever it very nearly approaches this condition, the the- 
ory gives place to a recognized law of nature. The 
student of nature thus carefully feels his way, step by 
step, from theory to fact; from hypothesis to law; 
while the most certain knowledge possessed by sci- 
ence, regarding the ultimate structure of things, is 
the certainty that it does not know. The atomic the- 
ory, now so generally in vogue, offers no exception to 
the above reflections. If, therefore, science is thus 
uncertain with regard to matter and force, no theory 
can be called orthodox; and any suggested modifica- 
tion of any theory is legitimate. 

Very important discoveries have been made in re- 
cent times, but these discoveries concern the relations, 
rather than the essence of things. The finer appli- 
ances of modern art in mechanics and physics, to- 
gether with the higher unfolding of the senses in man, 
have brought to view large groups of facts in nature's 
finer forces ; while the records of all these discover- 
ies are so widely diffused, that relations are also dis- 



Matter and Force. 25 

covered between different groups of facts that at first 
seemed entirely dissimilar. 

The mechanical equivalence of heat with correlative 
modes of motion, as now apprehended, and the gen- 
eral principle of the correlation of force, to which the 
former discovery gave rise, led also to the concept of 
the conservation or indestructibility of force. It 
would fill volumes to record the advancement in 
physical science that has followed these great discov- 
eries. 

Among the more receot deductions in the realm of 
the higher dynamics, are two discoveries which, from 
a scientific point of view, not only seem to transcend 
all others, but seem also to open the door to a new 
World — not as dissevered from the old world of crude 
matter and force, but intimately connected with it. 
These are the discovery of vibratory energy by Mr. 
Keely, and that of radiant matter by Mr. Crookes. 
The intrinsic value and wide range of applicability 
of these two discoveries will be best apprehended by 
those who are also familiar with the rapid unfolding 
of the higher sensibility of man, as witnessed by 
thousands of careful students and experimenters in 
the realm of psychology. So rapid, indeed, has been 
the advancement in this last-named direction, and so 
potent and dangerous the forces and power revealed, 
that legal enactments have already been instituted to 
control experiments and protect society against the 
threatened danger. It may thus readily be seen, that 



26 A Study of Man. 

progress in physics goes hand in hand with progress 
in metaphysical discovery. To appreciate the one, it 
is necessary to keep in view also the other, as together 
indicating the signs of the times. We are thus he- 
ginning to realize the refinement of which matter 
and force are capable ; and the terra incognita, whose 
shores we have thus been permitted to approach, is 
destined *to swallow up not only the unknown, hut 
also the unknowable in both these realms. 

The methods of modern science are approximately 
exact ; but the results at which it has arrived are by 
no means final. In the use of the term " exact sci- 
ence," this important fact is not always kept clearly 
in view. The relative force of any scientific dictum 
being thus clearly defined, it will also appear that all 
questions, here as elsewhere, are open questions. 
With every important discovery there is a checking 
back over all previous conclusions, and the inaccura- 
cies, thus made to disappear, become constantly less 
and less prominent. A path so often trodden in 
time becomes smooth. 

It is no part of our purpose to cast reproach upon 
any of the discoveries of science, nor seriously to ques- 
tion the results at which it has arrived, so long as 
they are thus held tentatively. All scientists, by the 
way, worthy of the name, thus look upon the results 
of their investigations. If, in dealing with pure phys- 
ics, science has achieved final results in nothing, and 
can really boast only of more or less exact methods 



Matter and Force. 27 

of research, then no one wearing the garb of science 
can afford to ridicule either philosophy, psychology, 
or religion. Each of these departments can boast of 
methods quite as exact as those of science itself; for 
there is a true psychology, as there is a true science. 
Here again, as will be more fully shown elsewhere, 
the truth lies in the method and not in the partial re- 
sults ; for, inasmuch as the results are, in all cases, 
tentative or provisional, rather than final, they are 
not results, but methods. 

The idea of the eternity or indestructibility of mat- 
ter, can be traced back to very remote times ; and, 
though the theory of the correlation and conserva- 
tion of force, in its present form, is of recent date, 
glimpses of it may be found even beyond our present 
epoch. Plato says that we see by virtue of the light 
which is in the eye commingling with that of the 
sun ; thus implying terms of correlation ; while in the 
Sanscrit, terms of the still more ancient Hindoo phil- 
osophies the principle is more clearly apprehended. 

We have, then, the indestructibility of matter, the 
hypothetical atom, and the indestructibility of force. 
Matter is the theater of motion, and offers resistance 
to force, though not in the sense of the old idea of 
inertia ; and force is that which produces motion in 
matter. The conclusion is, therefore, inevitable: 
there is no matter without force, and no force with- 
out matter. They are indestructible and inseparable. 
Therefore, every hypothetical atom, as every parti- 



28 A Study of Man. 

cle of mass, is in ceaseless motion ; for if an atom 
cease to move, it must cease to be. With every 
change in the relations and combinations of atoms, 
new forces, or different modes of motion, are mani- 
fested. Even a nascent point in the breaking up of 
compounds, and in the formation of new ones, can not 
be conceived, where motion ceases for an instant; 
this would annihilate force. Motion can only be 
transformed into other modes, like the change of fig- 
ures in an endless dance, weaving new forms in the 
dizzy whirl of life and death. 

Certain experiments, notably those of Tyndall on 
sound-waves, have shown that small particles of mat- 
ter, like grains of sand, free to move, as on a drum- 
head, or any vibrating disc, will arrange themselves 
in exact geometrical figures, according to the sound- 
wave directly or indirectly induced. In the trans- 
mission of motion from without, through waves of 
air, there is a visible response from the free-moving 
molecules, as when the disc is also made to vibrate 
directly ; in either case, geometrical figures are pro- 
duced. The principle of consonant rhythm is illus- 
trated by the tuning of two pianos in unison, and 
witnessing in one instrument the repetition of tones 
or chords produced on the other. A large class of 
substances in nature are recognized by the form and 
color of the crystals to which they give rise. The 
requisite condition for crystallization is solution, so 
that the particles of the crystallizing substances shall 



Matter and Force. 29 

be free to move among themselves ; without solution 
the process is a very slow one. This movement of 
particles to produce exact forms, is crudely illustrated 
by the sand-grains. The uniform shape of the crys- 
tals formed by any given substance, shows that sub- 
stance to be capable of responding to certain defi- 
nite waves of motion only ; and it shows, also, that 
the form of the wave here underlies, rather than im- 
pinges upon, the crystallizing substance, polarizing it, 
as we shall see further on. Within and without, 
however, there must be consonant rhythm ; and the 
form of the crystals, as doubtless to some extent their 
color and prismatic quality, are determined by the 
equilibrium established between the external and in- 
ternal waves of motion. This adjustment of motions 
must be by exact ratios, or equimultiples, according to 
the principles of harmony. It is by no means, then, 
a fanciful conclusion, from the foregoing outlines, 
that every atom of matter in the universe is set to 
music, and that the forms of crystals, and all the va- 
ried shapes in nature, lie concealed in rhythm and 
laws of harmony. The very atoms may be said to 
sing for joy in the dawn of every created form; for 
life is essential harmony, and harmony is joy. 

In the formation of all chemical compounds there 
may be traced certain definite laws of proportion that 
one substance bears to another ; and though one or 
more substances may, singly or together, enter into 
many compounds, the proportions and relations are, 



30 A Study of Man. 

in every case, predetermined and arbitrarily fixed. 
No matter what artificial compounds man may dis- 
cover or devise, he can only conform to this fixed and 
inherent law of proportion ; if he strives to ignore it, 
nature only laughs at his folly and conceit, and stub- 
bornly refuses to combine in any other way. A very 
important part of chemistry consists in the discovery 
of inherent laws of proportion. 

We thus discern not only force, but principles, un- 
derlying all phenomena of nature. The process of 
crystallization shows the persistence of an underly- 
ing force every-where present, and operating in a 
uniform manner. This force must be judged by its 
effects. We know far less of its own mode of mo- 
tion than of the mode which it induces in matter. It 
is quite conceivable that the various modes of mo- 
tion designated as heat, light, electricity, and the 
like, are but modifications of this one underlying 
force, or its phenomenal display under varying con- 
ditions of vibration. Thus are determined the phe- 
nomena of organization no less than those of crystal- 
lization. This idea of a widely diffused and basic 
force, implies also a basic substance with which it is 
inseparably connected ; else must we change our pre- 
vious concepts of matter and force. 

Creative energy displays an apparent or relative 
fixation of forms, in the midst of unceasing change. 
Organization, like crystallization, is, in a crude sense, 
a temporary'fixation of form. The first. step in this 



Matter and Force. 31 

fixation of form is polarization. Diffused and indefi- 
nite waves or vibrations concentrate and become defi- 
nite, and follow given lines. We have seen that this 
polarizing tendency subtends all phenomena, and all 
building up of forms in inorganic nature. The same 
principle will be shown to obtain in morphology, or 
in organic nature. There is, in every case, a change 
from the formless to the formed, and the more defi- 
nite the form, the greater its stability. 

If we consider the so-called elementary substances, 
such as science has hitherto been unable to analyze, 
as made up of invisible atoms, similar atoms being 
grouped to form an element, with certain definite re- 
lations existing between different groups, we shall be 
justified in supposing that all of the so-called ele- 
ments have something in common. Hence, from the 
matter-side of our problem, as from the force-side, 
we can think back to a common substratum. If from 
the force-side we discern a polarizing tendency, and 
from the matter-side a substratum, our superstruct- 
ure, which we found uniting at the apex as matter 
and force, must be even more compact at its base. 
We thus discern an underlying substance every- where 
diffused, of great tenuity, permeating all things, as 
the common basis of matter and force. This sub- 
stance, with its characteristic polarizing tendency, 
and its universal diffusibility, outwardly displayed in 
atoms of elements, and in all objective phenomenal 
nature, is magnetism. If magnetism be also atomic 



32 A Study of Man. 

in structure, the atoms may be conceived as infinitely 
smaller than those of the elements ; and as this sub- 
stratum may be considered as either matter or force, 
lying back of both, it answers to the dynaspheric 
force, which at once unites and separates, holds to- 
gether, and yet keeps apart, the larger atoms of the va- 
rious forms of matter designated as solid, fluid and gas. 
The so-called " radiant matter," would be magnetism 
itself, divorced from all other matter, freed from the 
so-called elements, radiant when not beclouded by 
overlying grosser atoms, yet matter still. If this 
view, thus far, is warranted by such facts as we pos- 
sess, we must go still farther back in our analysis. 
That which underlies both matter and force, and thus 
surrounds both molecule and mass, and which is rec- 
ognized in all matter as a polarizing tendency, yet 
only a finer grade of matter, must, therefore, lie at 
the center of, as well as diffuse our hypothetical 
atoms, and so polarize them. Aggregations of atoms 
to form elements, and aggregations of elements to 
form compounds, as well as aggregations to form 
crystals and organisms, can be logically conceived as 
polarizations. Elements may thus be positive, and 
others negative as to each other, and so give rise to 
the locking of atoms to form compounds. The atoms 
of substances like oxygen may have complex poles ; 
while others like hydrogen may have simple poles. 
Hence many forms of attraction would arise from 
polarization. If magnetism itself is simply luminous, 



Matter and Force. 33 

and this luminous substance stands potentially for 
what we call matter and force, the motion which 
here, as elsewhere, is the logical sequence, can be 
conceived as a quivering or exceedingly rapid vibra- 
tion, an infinite number of infinitesimal atoms within 
an invisible area, vibrating with incalculable rapidity. 
Groups of such atoms by transference of this vibra- 
tion into scintillations would appear luminous ; or if 
motion were transformed into waves in a definite di- 
rection in matter, they would polarize it ; or in rare- 
fied matter, would give rise to light; or again in 
more solid matter, to heat ; and so on with the round 
of physical forces. 

We are still in the realm of matter and force, or 
phenomenal nature, and we may still go back of all 
this and dig deeper. It must not be forgotten that 
with every change in the mode of motion, or correla- 
tion of force, there is induced a corresponding change 
in the so-called properties of matter. If the differ- 
ent forces arise from the one force, magnetism, so 
must the different elements arise from the one sub- 
stance, magnetism. Thus we may conceive of all at- 
tractions or affinities. We have so far reasoned 
back to the common basis of visible nature displayed 
as matter and force. Magnetism would seem to be 
the matrix of matter, and the parent of force. This 
view is immensely fortified, at every step, by the phe- 
nomena and sensations of animal magnetism, or hyp- 
notism. 
3 



34 A Study of Man. 

The theater in which are displayed the phenomena 
of matter and force we call space; hut, unless we 
are very guarded, our concept of atoms will lead us 
to an absurd concept of space. Having traced our 
atoms to minuteness sufficient for our purposes, and 
having relinquished the idea of. dimension regarding 
them, dimension thus merging in immensity, space 
remains as mere emptiness — a boundless vacuum, in 
which the finer atoms float. This, however, is alto- 
gether inconsistent with the eternity of matter and 
force in any form, as this would involve the idea of 
both the beginning and the end of matter and 
force — the equivalent of saying that there was a time 
when there was absolutely nothing. Time can not 
antedate phenomena, for it belongs to the succession 
of phenomena; and it is inconceivable apart from 
motion. What then is space, as logically related to 
other concepts ? In beginning, let us change names, 
and so get rid of the dangerous idea of emptiness. 
For space let us say ether, not ether in space, but 
ether as space itself. Let us think of this ether as 
boundless, continuous, therefore, unparticled, and 
thus without qualities or attributes, as we apprehend 
them on the physical side. While forming the sub- 
stratum for magnetism, as magnetism forms the sub- 
stratum for matter and force, outwardly ether will be 
the boundary between the objective and the subjec- 
tive worlds. If we think of the natural world as ad- 
hering to the ether and displayed outwardly, we may 



Matter and Force. 35 

think of the spiritual world as also adhering to the 
same ether hut displayed inwardly. If the sensuous 
life of man is related to the phenomena of outer nat- 
ure displayed by atoms of matter and modes of mo- 
tion, so is the super-sensuous life of man related to 
subjective nature displayed with hasic continuity and 
essential form, with consciousness as the middle term 
equally related to both worlds — the objective, atomic 
world of matter, and the subjective, continuous world 
of spirit. Thus, in atoms and suns, in the infinitely 
small as in the infinitely great, in center and circum- 
ference, the natural and the spiritual are still one. If 
by analogy we seek to penetrate beyond the ether, 
we must either abandon our idea of atoms, or con- 
ceive of matter now in its upward ascent ap- 
proaching its opposite pole, spirit, as also existing 
in another state. But we can abandon here our 
atomic hypothesis without abandoning matter itself. 
The continuity of matter refined beyond the purest 
ether is thinkable, and our concept of spirit thus be- 
comes as rational as our concept of matter, seeing 
that we know the essential nature of neither, and 
can only partially comprehend relations. The basis 
of the continuity on the one side, and the basis of 
the atoms on the other, is the ether. As on the 
physical side, mass and so-called inertia, or gross mat- 
ter appears to predominate ; so on the spiritual sid3, 
force appears to predominate and matter seems to be 
held in abeyance. This shifting of factors would 



36 A Study of Man. 

constitute for us the natural and the spiritual world 
— our idea of the universe. In thus exchanging the 
idea of vacuity for that of continuity, we do no vio- 
lence to any rational concept of matter and force. It 
will be no longer rational to talk about vacuum or 
partial vacuum. We can well afford to dispense with 
the term, since it has ceased to convey any rational 
idea. 

If our reasoning thus far holds and magnetism be 
found to be the fourth state of matter, ether would 
seem to be a fifth; and the series would stand thus: 
solid, liquid, gas, magnetism, ether. With this con- 
clusion, we shall have both to modify and to enlarge 
our idea of atoms and elementary substances. In the 
case of that of the most active and most widely dif- 
fused element, oxygen, for example, we may conceive 
of one of its atoms as consisting of concentric rings 
or layers, a ring of magnetism inclosed in an outer 
capsule and inclosing an inner nucleus of ether with 
each of these rings or spheres penetrating the others, 
the mere gross being aggregations or concentrations 
of the more refined. We may further conceive of 
vibrations intense enough and rapid enough to dis- 
associate the outer rings from the ether, though un- 
able to liberate pure force, yet competent to bring 
into activity in another form far more refined and 
intense the substance, magnetism, which is both 
matter and force ; and this Mr. Keely seems to have 
accomplished. Something like this occurs when wa- 



Matter and Force. 37 

ter is decomposed by a current of electricity. If it 
be once conceived that substances akin to oxygen, 
called elements, have originated from magnetic sub- 
stance, it may also be seen how they may return to 
their primordial matrix. Ozone may thus be found 
to be an intermediate state between oxygen and mag- 
netism ; one form may be polarized oxygen, and the 
other non-polarized. This idea of the compound nat- 
ure of atoms is not new, nor is it without support. 
The magnetism of an iron bar may be explained by 
assuming that the atoms that compose it are polar- 
ized, the property of the bar representing .the quali- 
ties of the atoms combined. In all germs from which 
living forms arise the structure is similar to that sug- 
gested for an atom of oxygen. Reasoning backward 
by analogy, as in the case of the magnetic bar, there 
must either be a break at some point in the orderly 
sequence of nature, or every atom that goes to form 
the germ must typically represent it. 

Matter and force, inseparable and indestructible, 
may, nevertheless, disappear from view; they may 
pass from the active to the passive plane and still ex- 
ist as invisible, unparticled matter and potential 
force. This view is also supported by analogy. 
Every process visible to man consists in a crude sense 
of an appearance and a disappearance, of growth and 
decay, of building up and tearing down, of death 
and rejuvenescence. The invisible becomes visible; 
the visible becomes invisible. In this concept we have 



38 A Study of Man. 

only traced the process farther back, just as we trace 
the principle of the subdivision of matter back to the 
concept of invisible atoms. While the quantity of 
matter and force in the universe may be conceived as 
forever the same, unceasing motion leads creative 
processes out from the bosom of the all-enfolding 
ether only to lead them back to the source from 
whence they came, and so constitute and continue 
the cycles of creation. Here, again, analogy sup- 
ports our argument. If suns and planets revolve, 
they must have derived the forces by which they re- 
volve from some principle antedating their appear- 
ance, viz., the cyclic process of creation* itself. 

If the foregoing considerations seem transcend- 
ental, let it be remembered that we are presently to 
enter the realm of vital dynamics, there to examine 
the processes of life and of thought. "We shall find 
these processes complicated, though made up of the 
display of matter and force, the same matter and the 
same force that are herein discussed. There can be 
no essential difference between matter and force 
found in the living structure and that found outside 
of it ; otherwise the latter could not be converted 
into the former. Nutrition brings about such a con- 
version. It may thus be seen, that to begin the 
study of life without at least an outline of the prin- 
ciples of physics, would be as fruitless as to attempt 
to solve the most difficult problem of differential cal- 
culus without a knowledge of the laws of differen- 



Matter and Force. 39 

tiation. The useless theories regarding human nat- 
ure and human life arise through ignorance or dis- 
regard of these "basic principles. Like plants that 
grow in the air they take no root, and flourish only 
for a brief season. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PHENOMENAL WORLD. 

In the preceding chapter an outline is given of the 
general principles of physics, as pertaining partic- 
ularly to matter and force,' in their basic relations and 
manifestations in smaller areas. We are now briefly 
to consider those wider displays regarding nature as 
a whole. If man derives his body and his energy 
from matter and force it follows that he is also a part 
of the world about him, an existence in space and 
time. To a certain extent he is related to all nature. 
If we would clearly discern at what point and to 
what extent man transcends the sphere of physics, 
we must first definitely determine his relations to 
that sphere. 

The persistence of motion as coincident with mat- 
ter and force implies ceaseless change. This change 
involves atom, particle, molecule and mass. It, 
therefore, involves all organisms whether animal, 
vegetable or mineral. Instability and transition are 
indelibly stamped on all created things. Nothing is 
what it seems, as all things exist only by virtue of 
change, ceaseless change. All human experience, 
which is the basis of all our knowledge, is a record of 
changes occurring in our states of consciousness 
(40) 



The Phenomenal World. * 41 

Creation naturally divides into halves, matter and 
spirit. Spirit transcends matter as refinement tran- 
scends grossness, as light transcends darkness, as 
good transcends evil. Matter exists externally as 
body; spirit, internally as essence. If matter and 
spirit are the opposite poles of cosmos so are they 
the opposite poles of an atom, as an atom typifies a 
universe. A universe made up of particles without 
affinities, with no common basis upon which to com- 
bine, would not even be conceivable as chaos; it 
would be a condition unthinkable. There is no more 
marvelous revelation in nature than the intimate re- 
lations every-where seen. Atoms and molecules flock 
together like doves seeking their mates. A volume 
might be written on the Loves of the Atoms, as the 
elder Darwin and Ovid before him wrote on the 
Loves of the Plants. There could be no attraction, 
no affinity without duality. This principle is equally 
true in atoms and in man. Emerson says : " Husband 
and wife must be very two before they can be very 
one." If attraction is universal, so is duality. There 
can be no attraction without something to attract and 
something to be attracted. Attraction implies both 
the opposite and the similar ; or more accurately, at- 
traction implies repulsion. These are related to each 
other as positive and negative poles ; hence opposites 
attract and repel. Attraction and repulsion are either 
two equal forces, or opposite poles of one force. As 
motive powers they are equal. Just as one body 



42 « A Study of Man. 

moves toward another by attraction, it moves from it 
by repulsion. Two atoms attracted to each, other, 
locked in a firm embrace, saturate each other and be- 
come homogeneous. Repulsion separates them just as 
attraction brought them together. Spirit thus impreg- 
nates matter, while matter embodies spirit ; and thus 
«are created atoms and worlds. The atomic stability 
of elementary substances, and the comparative insta- 
bility of compounds, may thus turn on this problem 
of impregnation and repulsion. Duality is then both 
basic and cosmic. One principle leads forth the busy 
atoms and swings in space the teeming worlds. Our 
forms of thought and modes of expression not only 
reveal duality, but both thought and expression orig- 
inate from duality and are possible only as such. So- 
called evidence of the senses concerns the external 
world of phenomena, though beyond the B.ve senses 
recognized, there are others that undoubtedly go 
deeper and penetrate beyond the objective plane. 
The senses by which we apprehend the world of phe- 
nomena around us are also phenomenal in character ; 
change within, as change without. To sense a thing 
is to appreciate the changes that characterize it, and 
the relations that concern it ; but to sense only is not 
to understand, as will be shown further on. All 
phenomena occur in matter, space, time and motion. 
In the preceding chapter space was conceiyed as the 
underlying ether.' In the larger display of nature as 
related to movements of mass occurring in time, our 



The Phenomenal World. 43 

ideas of space regard distance and dimension ; the 
magnitude of objects and the distance between 
them, or our ideas of height, depth and breadth 
are conditioned by the senses. The eye is thus 
our space-organ, and the ear our time-organ ; while 
beyond the phenomenal character of external na- 
ture and sensation there is also the element of im- 
perfection in the organs of sense. Our ideas of 
space and time are always relative, never abso- 
lute ; and are furthermore often defective, owing 
to defects in us. If one were to imagine himself sus- 
pended in space, out of sight of any object upon 
which the eye could rest, his ideas of distance and of 
size would soon disappear ; and there would also dis- 
appear his idea of time. In place of these ideas 
would come the feeling of immensity. It may thus 
be seen that our ideas of space and time are definitely 
related to matter and motion, and that our sensations 
and thoughts dependent on these are phenomenal 
also, and are of the same general character. Taking 
now this objective, phenomenal world as a whole, 
we find, according to our previous conception, that 
it constitutes one-half of our knowable world, bodied 
forth from the ether as the senses are bodied forth 
from consciousness. Sir Isaac Newton designated the 
ether, Sensor ium Dei ; we might call it the Conscious- 
ness of Nature. Thus the sensorium of God is the 
consciousness of nature; while the consciousness of 
God is the creator of the world. Thus the Infinite 



44 A Study of Man. 

center, the Divine Consciousness, is impressed on 
the sensitive ether and bodied forth in all created 
forms ; while the same outward nature, through the 
sensorium and varied experiences of man, is repro- 
duced in his consciousness. Eventually through the 
unfolding of higher senses the subjective world may 
be re-created in man. It has elsewhere been sug- 
gested that when matter disappears from the visible 
world beyond the gaseous and below the plane of 
magnetism, thus becoming unparticled and no longer 
manifesting as matter and force, as we understand 
them, motion must also disappear. Matter and force 
in this hypothesis have changed places and are differ- 
ently . related. To this inner realm elsewhere dis- 
played, as the outer realm is displayed in space and 
time, we may attach the idea of stability, and there 
may be as many invisible worlds for the display of 
this subjective mode of being as there are visible 
worlds in the objective. It would be reasonable to 
suppose that every visible world has its invisible 
counterpart ; that there are twin worlds of matter and 
spirit, as twin atoms, negative and positive — one mod- 
ulus running through cosmos. We are not at pres- 
ent concerned with these invisible worlds further 
than to show a logical basis for the concept that the 
objective world of matter as a whole, as in every part, 
is supplemented by a subjective world of rest, where 
the phenomenal becomes the noumenal. Thus is car- 
ried out our idea of duality, the ether being the com- 



The Phenomenal World. 45 

mon medium of exchange. This subjective world 
stands related to the objective as cause to effect; and 
when the resulting cycle of change has run its course 
there is a return to the subjective world. Here the 
terms, cause and effect, change places, and on the 
subjective plane are worked out the effects of the 
previous objective existence. Again the cycle is com- 
plete, and again there is an out-put from the subject- 
ive to the objective plane. Novel as may seem the 
foregoing statements, they are every-where justified 
by analogies in nature, and are put forth as the log- 
ical sequence of the universal principle of polarity, 
which again rests on cosmic duality, the modulus of 
nature. 

Though the principle of polarity is every-where 
manifest, and though it is a clue to the labyrinth of 
life, to the process of thought and to the destiny of 
man, its most valuable service is in enabling us to de- 
termine the true position and relations of conscious- 
ness, thus making rational and comprehensible the 
process of knowing through experience. Here again 
involution and evolution, as general expressions for 
the dual process, conform to the general equation of 
nature. Very few human equations are complete. 
Few persons have an equal experience of both ob- 
jective and subjective nature, and few are really 
aware how largely experience is involved from the 
subjective plane. The cosmic duality of which we 
form a part is so intimately blended with our daily 



46 A Study of Man. 

life that it is often entirely overlooked, and is only 
discerned when we endeavor to discover the real nat- 
ure of things. So mixed and blended are the varied 
experiences of life, so complicated all mental proc- 
esses, that it is difficult to separate any single experi- 
ence from its fellows in order to discover its basis and 
meaning. It is true that we can hardly imagine any 
two experiences as occurring at the same time ; hut 
the memory of former experiences and the anticipa- 
tion of those to come lead inevitably to the very confu- 
sion named. With memory on the one side and with 
hope and fear on the other, past, present and future 
almost hopelessly bewilder us. It thus transpires 
that such expressions as experience, real and ideal, con- 
vey no very definite meaning to most persons. All 
nature is, moreover, full of paradoxes. There are a 
thousand questions that the thoughtful and sincere 
can answer in the affirmative or in the negative with 
equal propriety. This is equivalent to saying that 
these questions are so involved that they can not be 
satisfactorily answered by yea or nay. . And it signifies 
more than this : it signifies that every subject may be 
viewed from two sides, from the objective, and from 
the subjective; or from the side of self-interest, and 
from that of universal interest. These last named 
are often found to clash. The personal never gives 
way to the universal without a struggle. Self-preser- 
vation is not only the first law of nature, it is the first 
and the last law, the alpha and the omega of egotism. 



The Phenomenal World. 47 

]STature every-where sacrifices individuals to preserve 
the race. The first, the highest law of nature, is al- 
truism. And it is because man persists in reading this 
law backwards that humanity suffers and countless 
millions mourn. Nor is* the cup of man's egotism yet 
full ; as egotism enshrines itself in a creed, overleaps 
the bounds of time, and dooms more than half of 
the human race to everlasting misery. With the 
unfolding of the higher faculties of man he will dis- 
cern a more beneficent purpose in nature ; for just in 
proportion as he rises above self-interest and pride 
will he truly comprehend the divine. He will find 
not only that the phenomenal world of sense and 
time, but that the spiritual world is here and now, 
and that he has only to open his soul to its divine 
influence to become conscious of its presence. The 
key to this unfolding is not self-interest nor egotism, 
but altruism, whereby the phenomenal and the nou- 
menal are made one in consciousness and in life. 



CHAPTER IT. 

PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 

The basis of all knowledge is experience. This 
has been stated previously and will more fully appear 
in the sequel. To experience is to know. To learn 
and to know are not synonymous though they are 
kindred terms. So far as learning is a mere mental 
process and related to memory it is to the individual 
an alien ; only as learning enters consciousness and 
molds the individual life, only as experience thus co- 
ordinates truth, does learning become real knowl- 
edge. For the present we need only say that con- 
sciousness bears a different relation to the brain from 
thought. One learns as he apprehends, and this is a 
mental process ; one knows as he comprehends, and 
this concerns conscious experience of truth. All 
knowledge is derived through two factors, the sub- 
jective and the objective. Valid evidence and cor- 
rect reasoning are processes that lead to knowledge, 
but they are not the only ones. Thinking is that pe- 
culiar process of the brain resulting from sensation ; 
it is the experience of sensation. Thought and con- 
sciousness are inter-related and mutually dependent 
in man as now constituted, but they are related as 
sense and sensorium, as surface and center. Reason- 
(48) 



Philosophy and Science. 49 

ing is thought proceeding in an orderly manner, by 
which we discern the relations of things. The struct- 
ure of the brain and its functions exist by virtue of 
the very principles which by reason we every- where 
discover in nature. We might say that these princi- 
ples have created the brain and mind of man, and 
that in the very process of knowing man re-creates 
these principles. If then thought, as a resultant of 
sensation and feeling, builds the brain, only logical 
and rational thought can perfect its structure and 
fully develop its function. Logical thought is the 
orderly procession of those principles or processes 
of which reason apprehends the normal relation. 
Thought like sensation is phenomenal. It depends 
upon change or motion, and is derived through the 
senses from the phenomenal world without. Thought 
is, therefore, the moving panorama of the brain, re- 
producing the world to consciousness. Evidence of 
the senses, passed upon by reason and approved by 
experience, becomes knowledge ; but for this knowl- 
edge to be in any sense complete, the thing or the 
principle must have been reproduced in miniature in 
man. Thus to know a thing is to be the thing 
known. Thought and feeling, therefore, reproduce 
the world in consciousness. The thought-pictures 
are fleeting, but consciousness records and preserves 
them, not in detail but in essence as precipitated re- 
sults. We thus have the thing known, the knower, 
4 



50 A Study of Man. 

and the process of knowing. In real knowledge the 
thing known and the knower are merged into one. 
Man has become the thing he sought to know, hence 
the process of knowing disappears; it is consum- 
mated. "We have seen that knowledge considers 
facts and relations as they have been transmitted to 
consciousness by thought and feeling. Facts relate 
to single things ; relations, to one or many things. A 
fact once determined reveals other relations, and 
every new relation brings to light other facts. To 
obtain facts we must tear things apart. To discover 
relations we must put them together. We obtain 
facts by analysis. We discover relations by synthe- 
sis. These two methods enter, whether consciously 
or unconsciously, into all our processes of knowing. 
Science deals more especially with the world of phe- 
nomena which includes sensation and thought, lead- 
ing up to consciousness. The method of science is 
analysis. Philosophy deals especially with the world 
of reason, principles and laws, and its method is syn- 
thesis ; but as both the results of analysis and the re- 
sults of synthesis combine in consciousness continu- 
ally, we are seldom able to separate them in conscious- 
ness. Reason discovers these two processes of an- 
alysis and of synthesis ; and as thought presents the 
world to man, so reason presents man to himself. 
Man tastes of the world by experience, assimilates it 
by thought, comprehends it by reason and intuition, 
and becomes it by consciousness. 



Philosophy and Science. 51 

Thus it may be seen that philosophy includes and 
transcends science, as a law of nature transcends a 
fact, and yet one process can not dispense with the 
other, for each has continual need of the other. 
Each, however, has a field and a method of its own. 
Science deals with matter in the realm of physics ; 
philosophy, with mind in the realm of metaphysics. 
As working methods in the process of knowing, sci- 
ence and philosophy can not be separated, while in 
the analysis of all processes by reason, even the anal- 
ysis of reason itself, science and philosophy are sepa- 
rate methods covering different realms, pursued by a 
single mind to arrive at one truth. 

In all our investigations into the nature of man 
we should seek for valid evidence and employ sound 
reasoning, if we would arrive at the truth. Observa- 
tion must go hand in hand with experience, and we 
may fortify our own experience at every step by the 
experience of others. In this way we may gain a 
very wide experience equivalent to our own. Hav- 
ing learned a fact, we do not need to verify it daily. 
If we taste, it is not essential that we devour ; but 
without experience in some form, or in some degree, 
it is impossible to know or to become. The value of 
what we call experience depends entirely on the use 
we make of it, and the wisdom of the methods by 
which we obtain it. If experience be. our stock in 
trade from which is derived not only the pleasure of 
life but the fruit of knowledge, it is also well to re- 



52 A Study of Man. 

member that what we experience we know, and 
whatsoever we know we become. Experience and 
knowledge lead np to being. The dicta of science 
like the dogmas of religion are never final. These are 
to the flight of the soul in pursuit of truth as the shel- 
tering rock is to the weary' wings of the eagle, a rest 
on its journey. The souls of men are weighted 
down by creeds and dogmas, as though they were 
final truths. This is like clipping the wings of the 
eagle and chaining him to the rock. We have already 
shown that philosophy and science are processes, not 
results; hence any conclusions arrived at by these 
processes, whether by deduction or induction, are in 
no sense final. N"o result is valid even for a day that 
is not derived through these two processes combined. 
The fact derived by inductive analysis of the phe- 
nomena in which it is involved, must be fortified 
through synthetic deduction by the world of which 
it is a part. This involves sufiicient evidence and 
correct reasoning. Man constantly employs the proc- 
esses which constitute these methods designated as 
science and philosophy, and the magnitude of the ex- 
perience does not change the process, nor convert a 
process into a result. These universal methods lead 
to similar but not to uniform results ; for personal ex- 
perience which is every-where the basis of these 
methods varies continually. One who is in any sense 
a scientist, and in no sense a philosopher, is by no 
means a knower. He has. facts and opinions rather 



Philosophy and Science. 53 

than knowledge. One who is in any sense a philoso- 
pher and in no sense a scientist ignores facts and is a 
mere speculator. The first is usually a materialist; 
the second a theorist, and these always cast reproach 
on both science and philosophy. So also in the name 
of religion one may be a ritualist, may ignore both 
science and philosophy, may deny facts, refuse to rea- 
son and so become a servant of superstition. None 
of these false methods can ever lead to a knowledge 
of nature, a knowledge of man, or a knowledge of 
God. 

It may thus be seen that a correct apprehension of 
science and philosophy as methods, and that a correct 
and intelligent use of these processes lead man to a 
knowledge of himself, and as this knowledge unfolds 
through experience it includes all the rest. Man will 
know God when he becomes God-like. 



CHAPTER V. 

LIFE. 

We behold around us every-where one all-pervad- 
ing life. To inquire into the nature and origin of 
this life is the province of the highest reason, as it is 
the basis for the manifestation of consciousness and 
that which makes any experience possible. What 
consciousness may be apart from life we do not know. 
It is however quite probable that life and conscious- 
ness, so far as we are concerned, are inseparable forms 
of being. Life every-where exists in concrete de- 
grees, and qualifies in innumerable forms. So also 
with consciousness ; it appears in the lower forms of 
life, unfolds into self-consciousness in man, and is al- 
ready prophetic of higher states and conditions on 
superior planes of being. It has already been shown 
in the chapter on matter and force, that we do not 
know the real, essence of either. Our knowledge of 
these is solely concerning relations and manifestations. 
If in regard to these simpler forms of existing things 
the essence eludes our knowledge, we can not expect to 
grasp it on the topmost round of phenomenal nature. 
A thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the re- 
lations and manifestations of life and consciousness, 
(54) 



Life. 55 

will go very far toward solving the riddle of the 
Sphynx. This riddle is propounded to every man, if 
he has intelligence enough to inquire of life its mean- 
ing, and of fate his own destiny. It would be en- 
tirely beyond the scope of the present work to inquire 
into the origin of life on this planet. The transmis- 
sion of life from one organism to another, by which 
living forms are preserved ; the conditions of matter, 
of force and of structure in which life adheres ; and 
the relations of all these to each other are, however, 
matters that may be known. The last word of 
science as to the origin of life is biogenesis. Organ- 
isms manifest life ; germs develop into organisms ; 
and mature organisms produce germs which again 
under certain definite conditions develop other organ- 
isms, and so complete the cycle of life. This is bio- 
genesis, life created or transmitted from previous life. 
This is the process now going on, and so far as we 
can judge, has been going on from the dawn of 
creation on this planet. Perhaps no problem has in 
modern times been more ably discussed, and more 
thoroughly investigated than that of spontaneous 
generation. This discussion only a few years ago be- 
came very animated, and involved many of the ablest 
minds and the best appliances of the day. In this 
discussion the endeavor to show that life arises from 
any thing but organisms previously endowed with 
life failed, and the theory of spontaneous generation 
was abandoned. Since that time what is called the 



56 A Study of Man. 

germ theory has not only become wide-spread, but it 
has been introduced into other departments, and now 
a very large class of diseases are known to originate 
from and to be transmitted by germs. In another 
chapter we shall more fully discuss the forms of life, 
but it may here be stated that in a general sense all 
germs have an outer physical body, an inner nucle- 
ated body, and a still more central germinal area 
in which life is first manifested, and from which 
it proceeds outwardly to evolve specific forms or 
types. Not only does every living organism manifest 
life and give rise to germs that evolve into organ- 
isms, but aside from the manifestation of life by an 
organism as a whole, and aside from the production 
of germs, every organism transforms other matter 
into living matter; and this living matter may be 
readily distinguished from both the organism and the 
germ. There are very definite relations between all 
three. Here, then, are three conditions in which to 
study the manifestations of life. As the germ may 
be conceived as containing potentially the organism, 
or the organism may be conceived to be an expanded 
germ, we are more directly concerned with living 
matter and organisms. We may say in a crude 
sense, that organisms manifest life and produce 
germs. They are thus considered merely on the 
plane of life, above which lie the planes of sensation, 
feeling, thought, will, imagination and the like. Di- 
vested of all these, or rather ignoring all these, what 



Life. 57 

is an organism in relation to the mere quality, life ? 
This reduces the problem to the simplest substance, 
and the lowest, or basic function of life. The sim- 
plest substance manifesting life is formless, or struct- 
ureless living matter. This matter is relatively hom- 
ogeneous ; one part is like every other part, without 
differentiation. The lowest or initial function of this 
simple living substance is innate, or spontaneous irri- 
tability. This substance so endowed is variously 
named as biogen, germinal matter, protoplasm, and 
the like. For our present purpose we shall use the 
term protoplasm. It is indeed Proteus. It changes 
continually, responds to the slightest impression, is 
mobile to the last degree, and is converted into 
innumerable living forms. The fabled god Pro- 
teus, therefore, is its fit representative. This sub- 
stance, protoplasm, however, is not an organism. 
It can not reproduce itself. Neither is it in any sense 
a germ, though it doubtless constitutes a part of all 
germs and all organisms. Both germs and organisms 
have a definite structure and exist as definite forms, 
while protoplasm is formless. If protoplasm seems 
to occupy an inferior position, it is, nevertheless, the 
matrix in which adheres the very life of both germ 
and organism. Protoplasm is to organism what the 
ether is to the phenomenal world : namely, the basis 
of its manifestations, the theater of its display. The 
manifestation, or functional display of this simple 
living substance may be summed up in one word, ir- 



58 A Study of Man. 

ritability. If this substance so endowed is the basis 
of the life of the organism, the basic function of the 
organism is to produce it, and so maintain its own 
life. This is the process known as nutrition. "We 
are therefore ready to define an organism, as a body 
having such a cellular, or cellulo-vascular structure, 
that it can take up substances from without, inor- 
ganic materials, change their character and convert 
them into its own structure. The organism thereby 
nourishes its own structure, and maintains its own 
life. Nutrition is therefore the basic function of or- 
ganisms. This is the only definition of ah organism 
that has been found to apply equally to the lowest as 
to the highest forms of life. An organism defined 
according to its higher manifestations, as sensation 
feeling and the like, would seem to exclude the lower 
forms of life, though the innate quality of irritability 
doubtless forms the basis of all higher manifestations. 
All organisms, whether high or low, must eat and be 
nourished and reproduce their kind, or become ex- 
tinct. 

It will now be found exceedingly profitable to in- 
stitute comparisons between living protoplasm, and 
the simplest living organisms. If we institute com- 
parisons between simple living substance and a com- 
plex organism like that of man, little resemblance 
could be traced, the differentiation is too great. 
There is a group of living structures known as amoe- 
bae. Some of these amcebee have been described as 



Life. 59 

structureless ; there are no visible organs, and appar- 
ently little differentiation ; placed side by side with 
a drop of living protoplasm on the slide of a micro- 
scope the resemblance is very close indeed, yet are 
there very marked differences. The amoeba propels 
itself without organs of locomotion, and swims about 
in its drop of water like a fish in some land-locked 
sea. It does not materially change its form except 
in the act of iugestion of food, or reproduction. It 
literally gets outside of its food, flows around it, en- 
closes it and so assimilates it. In the act of repro- 
duction it becomes quiescent, contracts in the center, 
divides, and two amoebae thus result from segmenta- 
tion of the original structure. The drop of proto- 
plasm, as for example, the white corpuscle of the 
blood, has no such independent locomotion, though 
as it is impelled onward in the current of the circu- 
lation, it appears to creep along the sides of the 
blood-vessel, and may be seen to pass through its 
wall. It changes its form continually, elongates to 
pass into a smaller vessel, and becomes again spheri- 
cal as it emerges. It throws out prolongations which 
become blended with adjacent tissues ; and finally, as 
it is seen to pass through the wall of the vessel, it be- 
comes assimilated. One may thus come very near 
witnessing the very act of nutrition, as we previously 
witnessed the act of reproduction with the amoebae. 
In dealing only with outlines we must pass by a great 



60 A Study of Man. 

deal of interest to the student of biology. The pro- 
gressive transformation of living substance into tis- 
sue, with progressive change of function that accom- 
panies all such change of substance, is called differ- 
entiation. Tissue is therefore differentiated proto- 
plasm. All tissues are composed of cells. A cell is 
a living structure composed of an outer body, an inner 
nucleated body, and within this a germinal point or 
area. Nutrition consists first, in the production of 
living matter from inorganic, the food ; and second, 
in the transformation of this living matter into tis- 
sue. The food is relatively heterogeneous ; the pro- 
toplasm, relatively homogeneous ; and the tissue again 
heterogeneous. 

Bearing in mind now the fact of ceaseless change 
as pertaining to the very existence of all matter on 
the visible plane, this change being the necessary re- 
sult of the persistence of motion, we shall find that 
change belongs both to what we call dead and living 
matter. In fact mobility is greatest in living matter. 
All stability, therefore, apparent in living forms is 
unreal. No matter with which we are acquainted is 
ever permanently endowed with life ; for as we have 
already seen, mobility and instability, more than any 
other qualities, distinguish living matter. In regard 
to organisms like those of man, we can not say that 
they are composed of both dead and living matter, 
but rather of matter that is becoming alive, and of 
matter that is becoming dead. The body of man, as 



Life. 61 

of other organisms, is the theater of chemical, of vi- 
tal, and of organic changes. These processes can not 
be entirely separated ; they inter-blend, though here 
and there one or the other may be seen to pre- 
dominate. All organic processes are therefore chem- 
ico-vital, and the body of all living organisms is 
therefore the seat of continuous correlations of force. 
If, then, life qualifies in numberless concrete forms, 
called organisms, it also manifests in varying degrees 
in living substance. Living substance outwardly, so 
far as we can observe, is formless, though its in- 
ternal molecular structure is undoubtedly very com- 
plex. The process by which protoplasm is trans- 
formed into tissue with concomitant function, and 
which is called differentiation, is from the very 
beginning a necrosis. The ascending grade is from 
non-living matter to protoplasm, or the endow- 
ment with life ; the descending grade is from pro- 
toplasm through the tissue again back to non-liv- 
ing matter. Thus do the molecules and the mass of 
living matter, like all living forms, run through the 
cycle of life. The one typifies the other, just as it 
was shown that an atom typifies a world. The forma- 
tion of tissue from protoplasm, is similar to the forma- 
tion of a crystal from amorphous mass : namely, a 
fixation of form through polarization. The older the 
tissue, the older the organism, the more angular are 
the outlines ; hence the deep lines and sharp angles 
of age, as compared with the rounded form of youth. 



62 A Study of Man. 

The relations of protoplasm to structures like cells, 
tissues, germs and organisms is thus apparent. It is 
the living matter out of which they are huilt, and 
whose presence, first and last, constitutes their matter 
of life, hut it does not alone constitute the entire 
conditions of life. It is the "basis, not the crown, the 
subject, not the object. Tissue cells are differenti- 
ated protoplasm, and at the center of every living 
cell is a hit of un-transformed protoplasm on which 
are impressed the germinal force and the typical form 
of tissue or organism. In the body of man this liv- 
ing matter is found floating in the blood-vessels and 
lymphatics, and as constituting the center of tissue 
cells. In the presence of chloroform, for example, 
both protoplasm and the amoeba lose their mobility 
and irritability, which are again restored in the pres- 
ence of oxygen gas. 

We have thus witnessed the display of life in the 
simplest substance and its least complicated form. 
We have found it herein to consist of complicated 
matter without fixed form, manifesting great sensi- 
tiveness and mobility whereby it readily undergoes 
transformation, and that it is endowed with irrita- 
bility which later on develops into sensibility in asso- 
ciation with consciousness. We have no evidence of 
the existence of consciousness outside of a living or- 
ganism. Aside from the living substance from which 
organisms are built, we must not lose sight of the 
fact, that the germ that develops into an organism, 



Life. 63 

and has originated from it, is a definite structure. 
The conditions under which, the germ unfolds are the 
same in kind as those under which the organism itself 
exists : namely, by out-flowing and in-flowing cur- 
rents or waves of motion, determining continuously 
equilibrium or adjustment of external and internal 
conditions. The very center of this adjustment, the 
center of the germ, and the central fact in organisms 
is consciousness. Therefore protoplasm which is en- 
dowed with life, manifests consciousness, but can not 
be said in any sense to originate it. Life and con- 
sciousness are associated together like matter and 
force, and if it be conceived that on the physical 
plane, in the objective world, consciousness is depend- 
ent on life for its manifestation, it may also be con- 
ceived that on the spiritual plane, elsewhere consid- 
ered, life may depend on consciousness for its mani- 
festation. It is not illogical to conceive that while 
they may be always and every- where related, they may 
change places like matter and force in passing from 
the objective to the subjective plane, from particled 
to unparticled matter. Life may thus pertain to 
atomic structure, and consciousness to unparticled 
matter. The absolute unity of the basis of conscious- 
ness in man as related to the senses, and the individ- 
ual facts of experience strongly support this view. It 
should be clearly apprehended that neither the fact 
of life, nor the forms of life can ever be rationally ex- 
plained from the objective side only, and that as a 



64 A Study of Man. 

matter of fact the subjective is as real as the object- 
ive. The development of man from germ to birth, 
passes through all lower forms. Embryo-man is first 
germ, then mollusk, fish, bird, reptile, mammal, and 
finally human. So on the other hand, the whole 
sentient life of the globe builds upward, climbs con- 
tinuously toward man, and it is this ideal human 
type, every- where prophesied in nature, that is de- 
rived from the subjective world, and which overshad- 
ows all life. The substance, the fact, the quality of 
life, therefore, can not be separated from the organ- 
isms that manifest it ; and if these are displayed on 
the objective plane in a material world, it is illogical 
to deny that they are also displayed on the subjective 
plane in a spiritual world. One concept is as natural 
as the other, though the consciousness of man may 
as yet concern largely the objective. Natural selec- 
tion may presently give place to divine selection, and 
man become more fully conscious of the subjective 
world. Indeed we may thus read the signs of the 
times. 



CHAPTER VI. 

POLARITY. 

By experiment and observation facts have been dis- 
covered in regard to tbat something, be it force or 
substance, that is called magnetism. The most con- 
stant and uniform characteristic of magnetism hith- 
erto discovered is polarity. If we test for magnetism, 
polarity reveals its presence, and the deflection of the 
magnetic needle determines also the quality of the 
magnetism present, according as the positive or neg- 
ative pole of the needle is attracted or repelled. Po- 
larity, therefore, may be called the sign-manual of 
magnetism. In a simple voltaic battery where mag- 
netism reveals its presence, very definite changes also 
occur, coincident with the appearance of magnetism. 
If a piece of zinc and a piece of platinum be im- 
mersed in acidulated water and allowed to touch each 
other, or if they be connected outside by a copper 
wire, magnetism appears, and the zinc and the water 
are decomposed ; and while the platinum appears to 
remain unchanged, bubbles of hydrogen gas rise from 
its surface, showing the decomposition of water there 
taking place. When a needle or bar of iron is ren- 
dered magnetic it perceptibly elongates, and this has 
been explained as due to the arrangement of the par- 
5 (65) 



66 A Study of Man. 

tides of iron or steel, so that their long diameters co- 
incide with that of the bar. In the magnetic bar or 
needle, the magnetic power appears to be concen- 
trated at the ends. Having determined the presence 
of magnetism in a needle, the needle becomes a test 
for the presence of magnetism in another body. If 
one end of the needle is attracted, the other is re- 
pelled. Like poles repel each other, and unlike poles 
attract. In the center of the needle there is neither 
attraction nor repulsion, and this center is called the 
magnetic equator. Many theories have been advanced 
in the effort to determine the nature of magnetism 
from its phenomena. Among these, Descartes' the- 
ory of vortices, in which he embraced magnetic phe- 
nomena, and Ampere's idea of minute electrical cur- 
rents circulating around the atoms of the magnetized 
body, seem to be included in the latest theories of 
dynaspherie force. Whatever may be the nature of 
magnetism, we know that it manifests itself to us 
through matter, and in no other way ; and this mani- 
festation consists essentially in the establishment of 
poles. Magnetism, therefore, as pure force discon- 
nected from matter, is to us unthinkable. Magnet- 
ism as the substance lying back of both matter and 
force, as the potency of each, and the matrix of all 
things, existing in the bosom of the ether, is not only 
thinkable but rational. 

In this cosmic matrix atoms of matter exist, the in- 
tervening spaces bearing a definite relation to the 



Polarity. 67 

magnetic spaces, and these again bearing a definite 
relation to the pulsations of the ether. Magnetic 
ether would therefore constitute the essence of both 
the matter and force of atoms of all physical sub- 
stances. From the physical side, magnetic substance 
would thus constitute both the matter and force of 
all material existences. Matter and force being re- 
garded as inseparable and indestructible might nev- 
ertheless be resolved back into magnetic substance 
from whence they came. The various special modes 
of motion designated as heat, light, electricity and 
the like, so widely manifest in all forms of matter, 
would thus have a common basis, and the various 
forms and ratios of motion, and the change in den- 
sity, relative attraction, and re-arrangement in mat- 
ter would thus find a common denominator in mag- 
netism. The principle of the correlation of force 
presupposes just this common denominator. The po- 
larity manifest in aggregated atoms of substances 
like iron or steel, and which can be readily induced 
and modified, and again removed by artificial means 
would be explained as definite relations assumed by 
the atoms of iron or steel toward each other the primal 
atomic motions being now given a definite form and 
direction, like waves proceeding in the direction of 
the long diameter of the mass. The indestructibility 
of force, and its inseparability from the atoms of mat- 
ter presupposes ceaseless motion of the atoms, and 
therefore the mode of motion can only change so long 



68 A Study of Man. 

as either matter or force exists. Neither matter nor 
force would be destroyed if resolved back into the 
primal substance, magnetism, though they would 
cease to be phenomenal, and disappear from the visi- 
ble world. Polarity implies not only definite condi- 
tions and relations of opposite points, like the two 
ends of a steel bar, but in order to manifest this po- 
larity a center must also be defined, and this defini- 
tion of a central poise, reveals also what has been 
called diamagnetism, or a subordinate secondary po- 
larity at right angles with the primary. In all living 
forms, the beginning of development is marked by a 
positing of a life center, and the establishment of 
definite relations between center and surface. There 
also result in these cases both the primary and sec- 
ondary polarizations above referred to, so that in this 
regard organization is but a higher and more com- 
plex form of crystallization, as crystallization is &. 
definite form of polarization. 

Now it may reasonably be asked, what induces the 
definite modes of motion from point to point in mat- 
ter designated as polarity? We have elsewhere 
shown that polarization tends always to the fixation 
of form. In organisms mobility predominates, and 
polarization is subordinate. As old age advances the 
condition is reversed, mobility gradually ceases, and 
the form becomes fixed and when mobility ceases be- 
yond a certain point life is no longer possible ; that 
is, the waves of motion from center to surface and 



Polarity. 69 

from surface to center are no longer possible, the cen- 
ter of life ceases, and corporeal death ensues. All 
living forms no less than all physical existences occur 
in space and time, in terms of matter, force and mo- 
tion. This however has been shown to be but one 
side of the cosmic equation, the universal duality. 
All existences bear a definite relation through the in- 
tervening ether to the subjective world, and the phe- 
nomenal term of the equation is one member only. 
We have shown that the pattern after which nature 
every-where builds, and the laws which determine 
her mechanisms though displayed in matter, are de- 
rived from the subjective world. Nature's dis- 
plays are transient, phenomenal, but her laws and 
types are noumenal, not subject to change. This re- 
lation of form to substance, of law to process, is a 
continual striving, a tension, and this is seen in every 
manifestation of creative energy. On the force-side 
there is attraction and repulsion ; on the matter-side 
there is the coming forth, and the receding back into 
the unseen world, so that manifestation on the phe- 
nomenal plane is synonymous with duality. No mat- 
ter takes on form, nor changes its form, except through 
relations established between center and extremities, 
or center and surface. The cosmic duality is there- 
fore the principle of sex in nature, though it receives 
that name only in case of organisms. It is the form 
in which nature builds. Magnetism is every-where 
diffused ; it manifests its presence as polarity in all 



70 A Study of Man. 

creative and constructive processes, and these depend 
on definite relations of structure, manifested through 
motion, and as motion proceeds with structure it as- 
sumes more and more direct lines or poles. Physical 
nature solidifies, crystallizes, fossilizes, and holds in 
its stony grasp the remnants of the life of the glohe, 
in its tendency to fixation of form through polariza- 
tion. Physical nature is thus the fabled Medusa, 
turning all living things to stone, and Perseus is still 
the god of life that triumphs over nature, the winged 
Hermes with his caduceus and his cap of darkness, 
invisible for a season yet forever renewing his life. 

"We have already seen that underlying all processes 
for the building up of matter into definite forms there 
is a marked tendency to polarity. It has furthermore 
been suggested that this tendency is due to the un- 
derlying stratum of magnetism, every-where diffused, 
and springing directly from the bosom of the ether. 
If we regard magnetism as the polarizing tendency, 
and as every-where diffused in matter, then polarized 
atoms would gravitate either toward the positive or 
the negative pole of the larger mass influencing them. 
All attractions and repulsions, all affinities and antip- 
athies in nature may thus be explained on the prin- 
ciple of polarity. The terms, positive and negative, 
are relative, not absolute. Polarized atoms, or a po- 
larized mass may easily be conceived as reversing 
their poles. Hence the term polarization describes 
only a temporary state in regard to definite relations. 



Polarity. 71 

A body maybe positive to one object and negative to 
another, for every body is both positive and negative 
in itself; that is to say, it contains magnetism, and 
has two poles. Magnetism, per se, may be conceived 
as latent polarity. An isolated atom may be con- 
ceived as simply magnetic, but when related to an- 
other it may be said to be polarized. Attraction may 
be conceived as a pulling force exercised in a straight 
line. The force thus operating between two bodies 
of any given dimension, large or small, would be a 
polarization. If an iron bar can be shown to have a 
positive and a negative end, so must all the atoms of 
which the bar is composed be conceived as polarized 
atoms. These atoms associate together, not as posi- 
tive and negative atoms, but as bipolar atoms, so 
that the positive pole of one atom is directly related 
to the negative pole of another. This association of 
atoms might be likened, in a crude manner, to a row 
of children facing one way and clasping hands, the 
right hand of one clasping the left hand of another 
throughout the series. If now, we conceive an atom 
as globular, and as polarized, this would establish a 
central axis from opposite points on the surface. If 
we assume for this same globular atom diamagnet- 
ism, the atom will now be four-handed instead of 
two-handed. In the various tissues of the body we 
have this principle of polarity abundantly illustrated 
and abundantly proved. Man as a whole may be 
called a human magnet of which the head is the pos- 



72 A Study of Man. 

itive pole and the foot the negative. The right and 
left sides of the body are similarly related, and so 
with other parts, constituting a complicated series of 
polarized bodies, mutually dependent and relatively 
independent, the lesser subordinate to the greater. 
In the movements of the blood, in the action of the 
heart, in the contraction of muscle's, in short, in all 
vital processes this principle of polarity is observed. 
In all chemical changes, acids and bases are related 
to each other and determined by polarity. 

"Albumin coagulates at the positive pole where 
oxygen and a frothy acid liquid are set free ; hydro- 
gen appears at the negative pole along with an alka- 
line liquid." 

Nothing has so much to do with life, health, and 
disease, as polarity. Natural polarity of the entire 
body and of subordinate parts, constitutes that har- 
monious condition called health. A disturbance of 
this polarity in whole or in part constitutes disease, 
and is accompanied by distress, resulting finally in 
disintegration and death. A corpse is a de-polarized 
mass given over to decomposition. Chemism is no 
longer subservient to vitality and therefore disinte- 
grates and destroys. In atom, molecule, and mass, 
in ovum, embryo, and organism, this principle of po- 
larity not only obtains, but it also determines the ac- 
tivity, and secures the harmonious relations between 
parts. Polarity is the universal principle that under- 
lies all attractions, and is the method by which are 



Polarity. 73 

determined the various organic forms. This princi- 
ple as already shown, determines attraction and re- 
pulsion, acidity and alkalinity, contraction and relax- 
ation, systole and diastole, the relations between 
arterial and venous blood upon which the movement 
of blood depends. In the nervous mechanism this 
principle is involved in the sensory and motor im- 
pulse, and determines the relations of thought to 
feeling, and of will to desire. Action in any and all 
of these cases is impossible except as the precursor 
of reaction, and follows again as a resultant of reac- 
tion. Atomic polarity is the epitome of cosmic dual- 
ity. If now we consider the general appearance of 
the body as a whole, and contrast its condition and 
appearance in health with that of one diseased, we 
shall find that relatively the one condition is positive, 
the other negative. In health the individual stands 
erect, the gait is firm and elastic, the eyes are bright, 
the cheeks flushed, the beat of the heart is firm and 
steady, and all the internal movements correspond in 
vigor and vitality. Now reverse all this by shock, 
disease, or fear: the face is pale, the eyes dull, the 
head droops, the knees tremble, the gait totters, the 
heart is unsteady and respiration clogged and feeble. 
The individual has become altogether negative. The 
action of all medicines properly so-called is upon 
this same principle ; hence the primary and second- 
ary action of drugs, or the action followed by reac- 
tion always witnessed where drugs are administered. 



74 A Study of Man. 

Polarity is also the basic factor in pathology, no less 
than in physiology and therapeutics. A chill pre- 
cedes most fevers, local ansemia follows local hyperse- 
mia, restlessness and irritability follow coma ; and 
while normal and moderate action promotes health 
and perfects development, over-action, or abnormal 
action results in paralysis. 

Polarity, moreover, not only determines the rela- 
tion of the sexes, but determines sex itself. To viv- 
ify is to polarize. All our appetites and passions, all 
experiences in life partake of this dual form. Zest is 
followed by satiety, enjoyment by indifference, pleas- 
ure by pain. One of these conditions presupposes 
the other; one complements the other. If one has 
experienced great sorrow he has thereby developed 
capacity for greater joy, for only so are the lines of 
experience deepened. Were it not for this principle 
determining action and reaction, no single experi- 
ence could ever be repeated, even approximately; a 
single act would end the drama of life. It is this 
principle of polarity that secures approximate rest in 
the midst of unceasing change ; and in the presence 
of unending dissimilarity secures comparative equi- 
librium. Observation and experience, fact and phe- 
nomena reveal this law as every-where existing and 
every- where operating from atom to sun, and from 
monera to man. It is cosmic and universal. It di- 
vides the substance of the whole creation into spirit 
and matter, the one positive, and the other negative, 



Polarity. 75 

two poles of one substance. It again divides creative 
processes into two planes, the subjective, and the ob- 
jective, and places over against the physical life of 
the body, the spiritual life of the soul. It shows 
man's nature as equally adhering to the earthly life 
without, and to the heavenly life within. We can not 
even conceive of unity without duality, of harmony 
without melody. The Fatherhood of God involves 
the Motherhood of Nature — unity in diversity and 
diversity in unity. Elohim is creative duality. 



CHAPTER VII. 

LIVING FORMS. 

The cosmic form in which all things are created 
and in which all things exist is a universal duality. 
Both plants and animals reveal this duality as the 
hasis upon which their multiplication and diffusion 
over the earth depend. Man is created male and fe- 
male and only as such does he create. The modulus 
of nature, that is, the pattern and method after 
which she every-where builds, is an ideal man. Ideal 
man is man at his best estate, perfected in nature and 
triumphant in spirit, at peace with himself and in 
harmony with both God and nature. In ancient 
writings this archetypal man is called Adam Cad- 
man. Nature every-where strives after this ideal, 
and builds after this form. The simplest embodi- 
ment of life is prophetic of man. Building every- 
where after this pattern, nature reveals the elements 
of man in process of adjustment, and degrees of un- 
folding. Involution and evolution express the two- 
fold process of the dual law of creation, correspond- 
ing to the two planes of existence, the subjective and 
the objective. Every specific form in nature is itself 
a duality of matter and force, of body and soul. 
Every perfect unity is therefore a harmonious duality. 
(76) 



Living Forms. 77 

Every evolution on the outer plane corresponds 
to an involution on the inner plane. In every or- 
ganic living form consciousness is the central fact, to- 
ward and from which involution and evolution pro- 
ceed. The adjustment of these two processes with 
consciousness constitutes individual experience. The 
principle of life and the laws of development are the 
same in all organic forms. Development is, however, 
by concrete degrees and progressively from plane to 
plane of being. Each higher plane reveals completer 
form, the elements of which are derived from the 
lower plane as to function and structure, and from 
the plane next higher as to type and essence; the 
former are evolved, the latter involved. Over against 
the inheritance from below there is always the inspi- 
ration from above. Thus is cosmos evolved out of 
chaos. Thus does spirit brood over matter. Thus are 
wrought ideal forms out of earthly shapes. There is 
differentiation from below upward assimilation from 
above downward with consciousness emerging into 
self-consciousness and finally into divine conscious- 
ness in the archetypal man through experience. 
That which justifies all these conclusions is the law 
of analogy, proceeding from the facts of experience 
and observation. Nothing comes by chance ; nature 
builds by law through pure mathematics. Grant for 
once that nature is at cross-purposes with herself, 
that for a single moment she forgets her modulus, and 
creation ceases and confusion reigns. Beyond the 



78 A Study of Man. 

plane of animal life the archetype must he a co- 
worker with the Creator. He is to put away childish 
things. This is the condition of life on the human- 
divine plane. On the animal-human plane he is 
taught hy suffering; on the higher plane he suffers 
that he may teach. Thus man may discern his nat- 
ure and read his destiny from the experiences of his 
own soul. He may barter his birthright or claim his 
inheritance as he wills. Let him cease his inhuman- 
ity and his divinity will draw nigh. He can not serve 
two masters. The weary or the bewildered soul may 
take refuge in a creed, and rest like a fossil imbedded 
in a rock, unmindful of the ceaseless generations of 
life that go throbbing by. The stream never ceases. 
The sun still shines, and the earth is green, though 
the fossil senses it not. We may close our eyes to 
the light and call it darkness, but the great rolling 
orb of day never ceases to shine. The darkness only 
is ours, while the sun sheds his light on all. Man, 
know thyself! for thou art the epitome of all. 

" Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies ; 
Hold you here, root and all in my hand, 
Little flower — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God, and man is. 

The simple matter of life, protoplasm, assumes va- 
rious forms in morphological processes, thus consti- 
tuting the animal tissues. There is great similarity 



Living Forms. 79 

in the tissues of all animals, those of the lower ani- 
mals are coarser than in man, and the organs that 
these tissues compose are often very rudimentary as 
compared with the same organs in man, while in 
some of the lower forms of life the development is 
finer and more exquisite than in man. Differentia- 
tion, as a mere process of complexity, hy no means 
explains the whole of development. It may prove 
profitable to consider further the process of differen- 
tiation in order to determine what it does and what 
it does not accomplish. 

The human embryo in the course of its develop- 
ment passes through the various forms which in 
lower organisms are relatively fixed types. It is in 
turn mollusk, fish, reptile, bird, and mammal, before 
it assumes the distinctly human form. The human 
therefore includes all lower forms of life. In the 
definition previously given it may readily be seen 
that an organism is something more than a body hav- 
ing organs. Indeed, some of the lowest organisms, 
like the amoeba, are entirely destitute of organs, and 
yet these simple structures perform all the so-called 
organic functions : namely, those necessary for the 
maintenance of organic life. They must breathe 
without lungs, digest without stomachs ; circulation 
is accomplished without heart or blood-vessels, and 
reproduction without organs of sex. These various 
functions are performed by the same structure and at 
the same time. Respiration consists simply in the 



80 A Study of Man. 

exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide. Digestion 
consists in the assimilation of food to the likeness of 
the living structure. Circulation consists in the con- 
centric and eccentric waves to and from the center, 
and so on. All these functions are performed simul- 
taneously, thus constituting that condition called 
community of function : namely, one and the same 
portion of matter engaged at the same time in the 
performance of many functions, as distinguished 
from that condition where several organs acting har- 
moniously perform as many separate functions. 
Herein may be seen the contrast between commun- 
ity of function and widely differentiated function. 
"Whenever in the development of an organism a por- 
tion of the growing structure is set apart for the per- 
formance of a separate function, the balance of the 
structure is thereby relieved from performing that 
function. Each repetition of the functional act fur- 
ther develops the organ, and further relieves the bal- 
ance of the structure from the necessity of perform- 
ing the act as a whole. Exercise of a function devel- 
ops the organ that performs it at first in a rudiment- 
ary manner, till by continued repetition the organ is 
perfected in structure and function. In the mean- 
time this process of differentiation in regard to any 
one function induces differentiation in relation to 
others on account of the two-fold process of involu- 
tion and evolution on which all differentiation and 
development depend, and on account of the constant 



Living Forms. 81 

tension toward equilibrium. Differentiation begets 
further differentiation not only in parts but in the 
whole. We never find in a healthy individual one 
organ rudimentary and others well developed. That 
would constitute an aborted development. .The 
lungs in man, for example, a complicated structure, 
are not necessarily so on account of the function they 
have to perform per se, but on account of the gen- 
eral complexity of the organism of which they are a 
part, and in order to maintain the equilibrium of dif- 
ferentiation. The two-fold process then, that is, the 
perfection of the individual organ and function, and 
relief of the organism as a whole, pushes the devel- 
opment forward ; the whole process runs from com- 
munity of function to specialization of function. A 
still further principle is involved. As development 
from lower to higher forms goes on, and as assign- 
ment of territory of the growing organism is made 
to the various organs, till all organic functions are 
provided for, co-ordinate centers are established to 
preside over the various functions and the organs 
that represent them. These centers preserve equi- 
librium and harmony between the different parts and 
between the organism and its environment, and are 
directly related to the unfolding of consciousness 
through experience. Thus there arises a second 
group of differentiations : namely, those occurring be- 
tween the co-ordinating centers and consciousness. 



82 A Study of Man. 

The first group pertains to organic functions ; the sec- 
ond to sensory-motor and consciousness. The first 
group is directly involved in the maintenance of in- 
dividual life. The second group is indirectly so in- 
volved, and is directly involved in sensory and intel- 
lectual life. The result in the developing structure is 
that, as the organic functions are provided for, a por- 
tion of tissue may be regarded as left over, and not 
involved in the direct maintenance of the life of the 
structure. The amount of matter and energy thus 
accruing represents the cerebral lobes, and the size and 
development of these determine the plane of life, or 
degree of development in each individual. These 
cerebral lobes in the lower animals are the seat and 
center of consciousness, and they are thus determined 
by the range of individual experience, differentiation 
within, and modified environment. Whenever de- 
velopment passes from lower to higher types culmi- 
nating on the human plane, the function of co-ordi- 
nation moves one degree higher. The lower animal 
is conscious of separate sensations, and of individual 
experiences. The co-ordination of these constitutes 
self-consciousness. The difference between simple 
consciousness and self-consciousness is this : in the 
lower animal, the equilibrium is established be- 
tween two groups : namely, the organic functions and 
the sensory-motor functions. In man a third group 
is added and co-ordinated : namely, the intellectual 
and reasoning faculties constituting thus a triad. 



Living Forms. 83 

This last group is rudimentary in animals, and there- 
fore differentiation is below the point where equilib- 
rium can come in. Co-ordination implies equal 
terms, uniform complexity at all points. Thus con- 
sciousness expanded from higher to higher planes at 
last reaches the plane of self-consciousness. There is 
the same difference here between plants and animals, 
as between the lower animals and man. Sensation is 
developed in plants, while consciousness is rudiment- 
ary. Sensation and consciousness are developed in the 
lower animals, while self-consciousness is rudiment- 
ary. Sensation, consciousness, and self-consciousness 
are developed in man while divine-consciousness is 
still rudimentary. Now this whole process from be- 
ginning to end is a differentiation, but as previously 
stated, it involves something more than progressive 
difference of structure and function. It includes the 
addition of new elements, the assumption of higher 
offices, the exercise of higher and higher powers. 
Progression on original lines by no means includes 
the process or the results. Mere facility gained by 
repetition, and complexity by differentiation can 
never explain that upward pushing of all life toward 
higher planes of being. Without some other factor 
differentiation would be as likely to proceed down- 
ward as upward. 

Simple living substance, protoplasm, is composed 
of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, with sul- 
phur and phosphorus occurring incidentally. The 



84 A Study of Man. 

comparatively uniform chemical composition of pro- 
toplasm, and the fact that it is continually derived 
from non-living matter, and the further fact that the 
matter of life of one organism is convertible into the 
matter of life of another organism, have led to the 
conclusion that the life of the earth in all its varied 
forms is one in kind, though widely differing in de- 
gree, and in range of manifestation. There is a life- 
tendency diffused throughout all matter, though the 
conditions of its manifestations are found only in or- 
ganisms, and these arise only from germs ; these only 
give rise to protoplasm converting it to life, from the 
non-living form. So far as the mere fact of life is 
concerned, organisms produce germs and produce pro- 
toplasm, and these again give rise to, and maintain or- 
ganisms. Strictly speaking the only really living 
substance in organisms is the protoplasm, and while 
this substance is endowed with life it has no definite 
form of its own. It stands thus at the apex of en- 
dowment with life where the ascent from non-living 
matter ends, and the descent toward dead matter be- 
gins. All other matter of the body is either becom- 
ing alive, or becoming dead. This has become alive, 
and so remains alive till the process of differentiation 
begins that converts it into tissue. It is slowly as- 
similated, and slowly dies. It differs from the 
amoeba principally in having no individual life of its 
own apart from the organism which produced it. If 
it already had form and individuality of its own it 



Living Forms. 85 

could not take on the form of the various bodily tis- 
sues; it would not be Proteus. It is formless, and 
hence reflects any image, and takes on any form. 
We have thus considered the terms and outlined the 
process of growth and development from the phys- 
ical side of the equation. These processes are con- 
cerned in the evolution of every living body, but they 
do not determine the ideal form, or type. This, it is 
true, is worked out on the physical plane, but it is in- 
volved before it can be evolved, or rather, evolution 
and involution proceed coincidently and simultane- 
ously. Over against this whole process that seggre- 
gates and differentiates, there is another that aggre- 
gates and unifies. The first process concerns the 
world of matter and force, and deals with atoms, 
molecules, and the like. The second process con- 
cerns the world of power and essential forms, and 
deals with unparticled substance. From this subject- 
ive world are derived the idea and essential form, and 
this is involved, or worked into the growing germ, 
and the developing individual life. To put the prob- 
• lem in still plainer form and simpler terms, looking 
at the numberless forms of animal life on the globe 
as embodiments of the one life in varying degrees of 
unfolding, we inquire, what is the principle of form 
and quality, what the idea upon which nature 
builds, what is she trying to accomplish? "We an- 
swer, all forms of life below the mammal are frag- 
ments of the human ; while all mammals are human 



86 A Study of Man. 

in a rudimentary form ; hence all animal life is either 
fragmentary or rudimentary human. If now we 
consider man as the highest on the list of animal ex- 
istences, and consider the fact that with a relatively 
uniform physical shape there is observed a very wide 
range in the degree of development in the human 
species, and if we also consider the fact that the 
most highly developed human beings known to us 
are still imperfect and therefore destined to still 
higher development, we shall at last arrive at the 
idea of a far more divinely-human form of life than 
any now known to us. 

There are two general classes of conditions con- 
cerned in the growth and development of individual 
life. These may be designated as conditions of in- 
heritance, and conditions of environment. There is, 
however, no quality derived by heredity that is defi- 
nite and lasting. Whether the inherited tendency be 
good or bad it is a lingering element of a previous 
personality, and hence a trammel to the individual 
who in the midst of adverse currents is destined to 
stem the tide of all such trammels, and adjust his # 
own experiences to his own self-consciousness. In 
other words, all inherited bias that predetermines in- 
dividual character belongs to the receding wave flow- 
ing backward toward the dawn of consciousness. 
The whole tendency of individual development is to 
shake off trammels and stand alone, being thus free 
to push onward toward the grand ideal. No such 



Living Forms. 87 

vis a tcrgo as inherited bias, can account for intellect- 
ual strength, or spiritual growth. These are due to 
the vis a f route that leads man upward and onward. 
They are not and can not be trammels derived from 
previous personalities, but are rather broader liberties 
derived from the universal ideal, and ihey are appre- 
hended with greater clearness and entered upon with 
more certainty as the individual experience gains 
breadth and depth. In other words, the lower forms 
of life do not contain the ideal perfect form; if they 
did they would at once, and inevitably express it. 
On the other hand, the unfolding of more perfect 
forms can not be imagined as continually approach- 
ing an ideal that has already no existence. The ideal 
is not evolved from below, where it has no existence, 
but involved from above, where it eternally abides. 
Hence all heredity, strictly so-called, belongs to the 
earthly and animal elements, and contains the agen- 
cies of its own destruction. All heredity is personal 
bias. Individuality consists essentially in getting rid 
of bias, and advancing from the personal toward the 
universal. If, then, in his advancement toward the 
ideal form, man must cast off his heredity, so must he 
also conquer his environment. In no respect does 
man show in a greater degree his superiority to the 
animal life below him, than in his ability to conquer, 
change, or ignore, the conditions of his environment. 
Man readily adapts himself to changes of climate 
food and occupation that usually destroy animal life 



88 A Study of Man. 

and blot out entire species of lower forms. The sur- 
vival of the fittest is not so much to be regarded as a 
preservation of the less imperfect, as a leading up- 
ward directly toward the more perfect. It makes a 
great difference which way we face in observing these 
survivals ; whether toward the ideal end, or toward 
the crude beginning. If in what we call heredity the 
good only were transmitted, and if in environment 
larger liberty and broader experience invariably 
tended toward higher life, then indeed would hered- 
ity and environment prove all-sufficient so far as ma- 
terial conditions go. But the evil tendency is inher- 
ited as well as the good, vice is as easily transmitted 
as virtue, and larger opportunity through improved 
environment often means only greater wickedness. 
Heredity and environment are thus incidental in the 
life of man, rather than basic principles necessarily 
determining his upward progress toward a high ideal. 
The personal ego is determined by bias derived from 
both heredity and environment. The ideal form of 
the personal is egotism ; its expression is selfishness. 
The ideal form of the individual is altruism ; its ex- 
pression is charity. The personal is mortal. The in- 
dividual is eternal. The personal is evolved from be- 
low, it recedes and disappears. The individual is in- 
volved from above, it advances and endures. The 
lower self is an evanescent animal, rudimentary, 
temporal. The higher self is a universal ideal, a per- 
fect individual. 



Living Forms. 89 

Passing now from the consideration of broad gen- 
eralizations to more specific applications, we have to 
deal with the tissue cell, the ovum, seed, or germ, 
and the colloid. The colloid is the protoplasmic 
form, relatively homogeneous, structureless, and as 
we have elsewhere seen, is the matrix out of which 
all living forms arise. The tissue cell is a more or 
less perfect type of the original germ ; it has, how- 
ever, no separate life of its own, but is an integral 
part of a living body. Coming now to the most im- 
portant of these primary forms, the germ, the vivi- 
fied ovum, we find it passing through the various de- 
grees of sentient life and vital activity. The germ 
consists of an outer physical body, and an inner nu- 
cleated body. When vivified the latent life is con- 
verted into the active form. Impregnation is an 
over-shadowing; a magnetic picture is impressed 
upon the sensitive proteus, and it begins at once to be 
involved as the germ evolves on the physical plane. 
As development goes on, a distinct nucleus appears in 
the midst of fiuidic cell contents, and a cell wall or 
membrane forms around the whole. The nucleus di- 
vides first into two and afterwards into four parts, or 
nuclei. The form of the first nucleus is that of an 
oval disc. From the first two of these discs are 
evolved the organs of animal life, the senso-motor 
tract, the skin and the like. From the last two are 
evolved the organs of vegetation or organic life, di- 
gestion, reproduction and the like. These discs form 



90 A Study of Man. 

in the course of development two leaves, and subse- 
sequently four, known as the developing membranes. 
These membranous layers form at length a tube or 
rather a four-layered tube. The tube forms a hood- 
shaped structure, and again develops discs to run 
through a somewhat similar process, and finally the 
developing germ reaches an embryonic form. The 
whole of the early stage of development before the 
distinctly embryonic form is reached, consists in a 
multiplication of the essentials of the original nu- 
cleus. Each of the several discs or nuclei becomes a 
separate center of development, till at last they all 
unite under one definite form, the embryonic. The 
principle of polarity determined the first cleavage of 
the yelk, and the same principle also determined all 
subsequent subdivisions, and finally produced the em- 
bryonic form with its polar extremities and rudiment- 
ary organs. The process thus far is a differentia- 
tion, but there is from the first a limiting and form- 
producing power at work. The endogenous process 
of cell formation resulting in the mulberry mass is 
curtailed, otherwise it would go on indefinitely. That 
which thus limits the evolution in the line of simple 
differentiation, is the involution which meets it at 
every step. Over against the segregating process 
above referred to is an aggregating process which 
hedges it about and keeps it in strict conformity to 
the species to which the germ belongs. Whence 
arises this limiting, form-producing tendency? *It 



Living Forms. 91 

comes coincident with the evolutionary tendency, 
both result directly from fertilization ; they are the 
two poles of the life endowment, and both together 
constitute the quality and the form of life. The 
original nucleus is the center of the germ. The first 
two discs are negative to the original nucleus. In 
turn they become the parents, or are positive to the 
second two formed. By following the process of fur- 
ther development this fact becomes apparent, as from 
the first two discs are developed the organs of animal 
life, the brain, nervous system and the like. These 
maintain their polar supremacy, and continue as the 
center from which radiate all future processes of co- 
ordination, and toward which concentrate all senso- 
motor impressions. They are the spiritual end of the 
polarized arc, and finally merge into the cerebral 
lobes, gravitating toward the positive pole or head of 
the embryo, while the matter or negative extremity 
gravitates to the feet. This process is repeated with 
the whole of the twenty-two discs formed from the 
first cleavage of the yelk, each group existing in sub- 
ordinate degree to the primary ; and so also with the 
four tubes till the strictly embryonic form is reached. 
From this time the development within keeps pace 
with the growth from without, equilibrium or com- 
plete adjustment being the result of coincident evo- 
lution of structure and involution of form. The fact 
of consciousness is coincident with the dawn of indi- 
vidual life, and arises from fertilization which local- 



92 A Study of Man. 

izes consciousness in the same act that establishes po- 
larity and transmits creative energy to the germ. 
Impregnation therefore locates a center of life in the 
germ, and defining the relations of center to surface 
sets in motion a series of similar acts which finally 
give rise to the embryo. It is important to note that 
the initial point in all these complex changes is the 
nucleus. These changes begin at the center, and are 
for some time invisible from without. In the case of 
birds, and in many other forms, as in the case of the 
development of the chicken from the egg, the proc- 
ess is wholly endogenous, showing that the essential 
form is impressed on the egg coincident with fertil- 
ization. The genesis of cells and the formation of 
tissue begins, as in the case with the embryo, with 
the nucleus. This process consists in the cleavage of 
the yelk or segmentation of the nucleus. This di- 
vision is symmetrical, dividing the nucleus into two 
equal parts. These parts are not only of equal size, 
but of similar contour and of like endowment, as 
they afterward pass through a similar development. 
If we say that the molecules constituting the nucleus 
are held together by attraction, we must now say they 
are separated by repulsion. But this by no means 
explains the phenomenon, for such a simple repulsion 
could be imagined as scattering the molecules in all 
directions and this is not what takes place. On the 
other hand, if we regard the molecules as polarized, 
and the ovum as having thereby a positive and a neg- 



Living Forms. 93 

ative pole at opposite points on the surface, the act 
of fertilization fixing a center would convert the 
waves of motion flowing hitherto from pole to pole, 
into waves flowing from center to surface and from 
surface to center. As the line of the former polarity 
would offer greatest resistance to these eccentric and 
concentric waves, the ovum would become elongated 
by this resistance, and this is just what happens. 
We should next have a bipolar mass in place of the 
former unipolar one. As the hour-glass contraction 
goes on, the nucleus divides, as does the entire cell, so 
that when separated each part consists of half the 
cell and half the nucleus, the latter lying as in the 
original ovum toward one side. Let it be borne in 
mind that we are only analyzing the process as it 
actually occurs, applying the idea of a substratum of 
magnetism as a tendency to polarization ; in other 
words, we are explaining these processes in terms of 
polarity. In embryology where the process of evolu- 
tion begins as above described the nucleus divides into 
two halves ; these enlarge, and again each divides as 
did the original, forming four nuclei ; and these four 
constitute the basis of all future growth. From this 
point the process changes, and henceforth we have 
to deal with surfaces, lines, and curves, rather than 
with spheroids and masses. The living proteus con- 
stituting the original nucleus, and divided as above 
indicated, and upon which were impressed the form 
and impulse in the fertilizing act, has done its work. 



94 A Study of Man. 

New protoplasm is now brought in from surrounding 
parts; the orbits pass from ellipses to more direct 
lines; that is, a series of polarities results, subordinate 
to, but in harmony with one principal polarization of 
the whole. Neither differentiation nor polarization, 
however, can account for the embryonic form which 
at last takes on the human shape, nor is there any 
factor in evolution that can explain how these arise. 
We can say in a vague way that the type is transmit- 
ted from parent to progeny, and in a general way 
that it is impressed on the germ in the act of fertil- 
ization, but this states ouly a fact, and in no sense 
enables us to get one step nearer its comprehension. 
All the above considerations regarding the germ be- 
long to the evolution of form and structure, but they 
do not touch the source or origin of that form. 
These processes of segregation, multiplication, dif- 
ferentiation and polarization are therefore incompe- 
tent to explain the origin of form, nor do they con- 
tain one element that goes to show how and whence 
it originates. We must seek the origin of form 
therefore in some other direction. Bearing in mind 
what has previously been said of the subjective plane, 
as that of essential forms, and of the ether as space 
holding in its broad bosom unparticled substance as 
well as particled matter, bearing also in mind the 
fact that all things belong equally to the two planes, 
the objective and the subjective, we shall now dis- 
cover where we are to look for the origin of form. 



Living Forms. 95 

It is mirrored on the magneto-etheric basis of the 
molecular germ, and is progressively involved toward 
the center, from whence it is evolved toward the sur- 
face. It therefore circumscribes and directs the dif- 
ferentiation going on. Fertilization therefore is a 
double process and includes these various factors 
both objective and subjective, and as on the objective 
plane are found every degree of embodiment and 
every conceivable shape; so on the subjective plane 
must exist every conceivable essential form. Co-or- 
dination of the conditions of these at a given point, 
in an instant of time through laws of rhythm, consti- 
tutes the act of fertilization, and therefore deter- 
mines form. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PLANES OF LIFE. 

We sometimes hear it stated that magnetism is 
life. Such a statement, however, is vague and indefi- 
nite, and therefore of no practical value. If it be 
true, as we have endeavored to show, that magnetism 
subtends all matter, and manifests its presence as the 
polarizing tendency, seen alike in the formation of 
crystals and the vital manifestation of organisms, it 
may then be said to establish the basic conditions on 
which the bringing forth of living forms depends. 
Magnetism determines the conditions of duality and 
lies at the foundation of all living forms. The life 
principle may be said to pervade all matter, ready to 
spring forth at a^y and all points whenever the nec- 
essary conditions are established. We have shown 
this springing-forth as proceeding from a germ, and 
as depending on the process of fertilization. The 
latent magnetism then begins its work by polarizing 
the mass. Then differentiation begins by virtue of 
the ebb and flow established between the subjective 
and objective planes. The form is involved and the 
structure evolved, with the germ center of living 
matter as a nidus for these processes. Matter has 
been shown to manifest life in two conditions: 
(96) 



Planes of Life. 97 

namely, with and without definite form. The first 
condition is seen in protoplasm; the second in germs 
and resulting organism, and these two forms have al- 
ready been shown as inseparable. Germs and organ- 
isms therefore involve all known manifestations of 
life, and while the essence of life still eludes us, the 
conditions of its manifestations when accurately de- 
fined are a very great assistance toward the compre- 
hension of all vital problems. The word, life, con- 
veys no very definite meaning to most persons, as it 
would seem to convey the idea of an antithesis to 
death and nothing more. If, however, one digs deep 
into the conditions and manifestations of the living 
and the non-living, he will discover that they ap- 
proach each other by imperceptible degrees, and at 
last he. will find that they are separated by no fast 
lines, but merge into each other, and that in the 
larger aspects, creation exists as an equation between 
the non-living and the living, and they, continually 
changing places. 

Aside from the cosmic duality represented by the 
subjective and the objective planes, the manifestation 
of life occurs on successive planes from lowest to 
highest forms. From the little zoophyte two planes 
diverge. Every conceivable form of plant-life gives 
beauty and diversity to the earth on the one hand, 
and every imaginable animal form gives expression 
to sentient life on the other. This first separation 
7 



98 A Study of Man. 

into planes occurs at the base of each plane where are 
seen the simplest manifestations of life. The next 
plane springs from the apex of the animal series, 
where by almost imperceptible degrees the grosser 
animal qualities recede, and the lowest human attri- 
butes begin to appear. All efforts to establish the 
point of divergence by direct parentage, have sig- 
nally failed, and are still likely to fail, so long as the 
whole process of the unfolding of living forms is 
studied from the evolution side only. The solution 
of this problem awaits the knowledge of the nature 
and sequel of that which Ave call death, or of that 
which occurs on the subjective plane. For this in- 
vestigation man must bring to bear faculties which as 
a rule he now possesses only in a rudimentary form. 
We have thus, the plane of plant-life, the plane of 
animal life in the lower forms, and the plane of 
human life. While as a whole, and in their larger 
aspects, these several planes seem wide apart ; as al- 
ready shown they approach and finally merge the one 
into the other, not by direct derivation, but by the 
common diffusion of the life principle and related 
terms of life substance. In the progressive evolution 
of structure the lower organisms are prophetic of the 
higher, while in the specific involution of higher and 
still higher forms, the human inherits from all below.' 
This plane overshadows the lower forms with its own 
likeness, and is itself prophetic of a diviner form 
which overshadows it. This principle has previously 



Planes of Life. 99 

"been pointed out, but it will bear frequent repetition, 
for if all embodiment of life inevitably tends toward 
a divine ideal, it is tbe most important fact witliin 
the comprehension of man. The planes of existence 
to which man is definitely related are thus the follow- 
ing : the physical, the vegetable, the animal, the hu- 
man, and the divine. Aside from the general rela- 
tion existing between these planes, individual man 
derives his body and his powers from these planes by 
more or less direct inheritance, and manifests charac- 
teristics belonging to all of them. He possesses a 
physical body, has vegetative, or purely organic func- 
tions, manifests animal instincts and attributes, shows 
human qualities, and reveals diviner possibilities. 
Every human personality is a composite body made 
up by various degrees of all lower life. He reveals 
his derivation in the shape of his head, in the con- 
tour of his face, in the outlines and pose of his body, 
and in all his instincts, appetites, passions and feel- 
ings. Not only so, but there is in every person a 
tendency to predominance of derivation, first from 
one of the above planes, and second a specific animal 
type is manifested in disposition and facial express- 
ion. A careful study of physiognomy will reveal 
this last-named resemblance. The resemblance of 
certain human faces to animals is often very marked. 
It would seem as though all lower planes of life, and 
every animal, had been precipitated in the vital alem- 
bic from which man is created. Herein may be seen 



100 A Study of Man. 

the intimate relation that man bears to all surrounding 
life. Possessing their forms and qualities, he stands 
as their complete embodiment and representative. 
The value and meaning of man's human birthright 
make him lord over all life beneath him, while as 
already pointed out in a previous section, self-con- 
sciousness carries the lines of his inheritance to the 
plane above him, and enables him to reach forward 
to a higher than the human plane. Individuals 
might easily be selected representative of types of 
the physical, the vegetable, the lower animal, and 
the human plane. That is to say, in the midst of a 
mixed inheritance from all planes, one or another 
plane would seem to predominate. It is also very 
instructive to study man from this point of view, as 
well as from that of animal physiognomy. There 
are persons who are mere physical bulks, who merely 
exist, and where all other potencies are subsidiary to 
the mere physical. There are again others who veg- 
etate, and wherein the organic functions predomi- 
nate. Neither of these types have any decided moral 
tone ; they are neither good nor bad in any marked 
degree. They have no zest in life beyond its bare 
preservation. They are listless, impotent imbeciles. 
There are again personalities in whom the animal 
predominates. As types they are above the two al- 
ready named; they not only outnumber the former 
types, but have in all ages known to history consti- 
tuted the majority of mankind. The principle they 



Planes of Life. 101 

have involved is animal egotism. Self is supreme. 
They lack neither zest in life nor moral tone, though 
the moral qualities -have not a necessary innate color- 
ing. In the supremacy of their self-seeking they are 
trather indifferent than hostile to others. They have 
seldom reached the point when they love evil and 
create suffering for pure love of evil. They perform 
evil acts for their own imagined good. Such but 
represent the human animalized. They do not crowd 
alone the gutters and dark alleys, and parade in filth 
and rags, in ignorance and legal crime, but they are 
seen as oft in public marts, in the halls of trade, in 
the ball-room and in so-called " polite society." 
Whenever and wherever man lives in his appetites, 
and is ruled by his passions, wherever he is willing 
that another shall lose in order that he may gain, at 
all times and every- where that egotism triumphs over 
altruism, is man under animal rule and living on the 
animal plane. The animal in rags takes a purse, 
steals a chicken, or breaks into a house, and revels in 
rot and rum, herding with his own degree of the op- 
posite sex. The animal in broadcloth and fine linen 
steals a railroad, breaks a bank, or steals legally, and 
rides in his carriage. He sips the choicest wines and 
to indulge his appetites and passions leads to ruin, 
desolation, despair, and finally to suicide every unsus- 
pecting girl upon whom he can place his unholy 
hands. Who dare say that the animal does not pre- 
dominate in all these ? What tiger or hyena destroys 



102 A Study of Man. 

like one of these ? The more subtle and concealed the 
form of animalism the more dangerous it is to society. 
Every human semblance is made to conceal vice and 
do duty as almoner to crime, and every garb of re- 
spectability is used in the masquerade of lust and ani- 
mal appetite. The criminal in the dock is never half 
so dangerous to society as the " respectable gentle- 
man/' who feeds his lusty soul upon unsuspecting 
virgins. Whenever really humane men and women 
will agree to call things by their right names, and 
when they shall agree to distinguish no longer be- 
tween the animal in rags, and the animal in fashion- 
able dress, then will the animal plane in human af- 
fairs begin to be depopulated. If the foregoing re- 
flections shall seem to any one out of place, let me 
remind him that there is a strictly physiological basis 
to every moral principle ; that things can be ethically 
true in human nature and human life only as they 
are organically true. The organic underlies all hu- 
man processes, so must the ethical and the moral log- 
ically crown our highest deduction. If nature every- 
where builds toward higher forms and unfolds toward 
a diviner ideal, every honest endeavor intelligently 
put forth to comprehend nature must show a like 
tendency. It is therefore competent for every one to 
inquire, to what plane his life is anchored, for he may 
weigh anchor at will and move to higher levels, but 
he will have to tear himself away from the siren pas- 
sions, to taste the ambrosia of the immortal islands. 



Planes of Life. 103 

Passing now from the animal plane to the next 
higher we come to the human. The human is essen- 
tially the humane, and while this plane has its root in 
the plane of animal life, and derives its substance 
from a still lower plane, its human characteristics are 
only revealed as the animal attributes recede. The 
animal man is a talking animal, while the humane 
man is a loving, reasoning soul. It is quite evident 
that human beings may exist on a very low plane, or 
very near the border that divides the human from the 
animal, and this even in the midst of a high civiliza- 
tion. It is also evident that from a comparatively 
high level one may descend to this low plane, and 
dissipate there the forces that were formerly used on 
higher planes. To give our subject a still more prac- 
tical bearing, we may consider the fact that the 
amount of energy possessed by an individual is as 
definite as the actual weight of the body at any given 
time. This energy is derived from the same source 
as the matter of which the body is composed: 
namely, the food. A certain amount of this energy 
is required to maintain the body and keep it in re- 
pair. Whenever this reserve energy is being drawn 
upon there comes the sense of fatigue as a reminder 
that it should be pushed no further. The entire body 
more or less participates in all these results. A rea- 
sonable amount of exercise either of local organs, or 
of the entire body, promotes health and development. 
A change in the mode of exercise, or from one sphere 



104 A Study of Man. 

to another, is followed by a sense of rest, as for ex- 
ample, when walking follows severe mental' labor. 
Habitual exercise of one organ, to the exclusion of 
general bodily exercise, develops that organ out of all 
proportion to the rest of the body, and thus in time 
lays the foundation of disease by permanently de- 
stroying the bodily equilibrium. Great muscular de- 
velopment by gymnastic exercise is, therefore, more 
often an element of weakness than of strength, and 
may lead to disease rather than to health. All func- 
tional exercise of an organ, whether in moderation 
or in excess, whether singly or in combination with 
other organs, exhausts the bodily vitality, and draws 
on the general fund of life, ^s a general proposition 
an organ develops in size and increases in power by 
exercise, but whenever this development transcends 
the law of proportion for the individual it becomes 
an element of weakness, as it mars the efficiency of 
the whole. Ideal development therefore concerns 
just proportion in every part, and whether this be ig- 
nored through lack of energy, or transcended by 
overwork in any given direction, the result is prac- 
tically the same. In the case of an individual capa- 
ble of lifting five hundred pounds as the limit of his 
muscular development, this represents the sum of his 
energy in any other direction, provided he has a 
healthy and well developed frame. The individual 
may lift this amount twice, possibly three times, at 
any given trial, and the next attempt will prove a 



Planes of Life. 105 

failure. Now the point we wish to illustrate is this, 
these five hundred pounds of energy which are 
available to the individual may be divided between 
the different planes of the individual's life. They 
may be used in physical exercise, in sensuous enjoy- 
ment, in intellectual work, or in debauchery ; or the 
whole amount of energy may be divided equally or 
unequally among the different organs of the body. 
As a matter of fact, this division is just what every 
person accomplishes, consciously and designedly, or 
otherwise. We might go further, and show that the 
amount of energy possessed by any individual in a 
lifetime, is also a definite and predetermined quan- 
tity, and that the method of its employment and the 
quality of work achieved, are relatively only under 
the individual's control. There is a natural order es- 
tablished by nature in the expenditure of energy 
which leaves it only partially under the control of the 
individual. First, nature at all times reserves a defi- 
nite amount for the maintenance of the bodily func- 
tions and for natural wear and tear. Second, during 
early life the continual growth of the body demands 
both matter and force, and the great activity of chil- 
dren and young people naturally draws heavily on 
the vital fount. When, however, adult life arrives, 
caprice or accident often determines the method of the 
dissipation of energy, if, indeed, there is any method, 
and so predominance is given to the physical, the 
animal, or the human attributes, and the entire 



106 A Study of Man. 

stock of energy is thus dissipated, day after day. and 
year after year. According to the evident design of 
nature it is as natural that the intellectual and spirit- 
ual faculties should predominate in later life, as that 
the physical and purely sensuous should have the as- 
cendency in youth. There are, however, few natural 
lives, and hence old age is often deformed, if not also 
degraded. There is no more valuable thing possessed 
by any individual than an exalted ideal, toward which 
he continually aspires, and after which he molds his 
thoughts and feelings, and forms as best he may his. 
life. If he thus strives to become, rather than to seem, 
he can not fail to continually approach nearer and 
nearer his aim. He will thus find himself above the 
mere physical, animal, and sensuous planes, and 
slowly entering on the supra-human. He will not, 
however, reach this point without a struggle, nor will 
the real progress that he is conscious of making fill 
him with conceit or self- righteousness, for if his ideal 
be high, and his progress toward it real, he will be 
the rather humiliated than puffed up. The possibil- 
ities of further advancement, and the conception of 
still higher planes of being that open before him, will 
not dampen his ardor, though they will surely kill 
his conceit. It is just this conception of the vast 
possibilities of human life that is needed to kill out 
ennui, and to convert apathy into zest. Life thus be- 
comes worth living for its own sake when its mission 
becomes plain, and its splendid opportunities are once 



Planes of Life. 107 

appreciated. The most direct and certain way of 
reaching this higher plane, is the cultivation of the 
principle of altruism, both in thought and in life. 
Narrow indeed is the sweep of vision that is limited 
to self, and that measures all things by the principle 
of self-interest, for while the soul is thus self-limited 
it is impossible for it to conceive of any high ideal, 
or to approach any higher plane of life. The condi- 
tions for such advancement lie within rather than 
without, and are fortunately made independent of 
circumstance and condition in life. The opportunity, 
therefore, is offered to every one of advancing from 
height to height of being, and of thus working with 
nature in the accomplishment of the evident purpose 
of life. 






CHAPTER IX. 

HUMAN LIFE. 

In the preceding pages have been considered some 
of those general principles to which we must contin- 
ually appeal in any well-directed attempt to under- 
stand the nature of man. It is impossible to study 
man apart from that universal nature in which he is 
involved, and upon which he so continually depends. 
In common with all nature the body of man is com- 
posed of matter and force ; therefore an outline of 
physics seemed necessary in order that all known re- 
lations in the physical realm might contribute to an 
understanding of those more refined conditions that 
constitute vital manifestations. Certain general prin- 
ciples of biology and morphology have also been in- 
troduced for a like purpose, though in neither case 
has more than a mere outline been attempted, suffi- 
cient to show the line of study suggested. The scope 
of the present work is suggestive rather than in any 
sense or in any direction, exhaustive. The aim of its 
author is to suggest better methods in the employ- 
ment of the large amount of material already on 
hand, although the methods suggested are by no 
means new or original, and he is firm in the belief 
that this change in our methods is all that is required 
(108) 



Human Life. 109 

to give more satisfactory results. The object lias, 
however, been rather to unfold than to apply these 
methods up to the present time. To make a detailed 
application of the basic principles of the underlying 
ether, the diffused magnetic substance, and the re- 
sulting principle of polarity, would require far more 
space than this entire work contemplates. Beyond 
the facts of science and the records of universal ex- 
perience the logical deductions of analogy alone have 
aided us. The universality of these principles is at 
once the plainest and the most valuable deduction 
possible ; for it at once simplifies our subject, ampli- 
fies our knowledge, and intensifies our interest. 
When it has once been discovered that many prob- 
lems hitherto almost hopelessly obscured, and which 
have been regarded as impossible of solution, are easy 
of solution by a different procedure than that gener- 
ally employed, order springs out of disorder, and dis- 
couragement gives place to interest and delight. As- 
suming only the fact of consciousness, a true knowl- 
edge of its relations to the phenomena of life on the 
one hand, and to the processes of thought and intu- 
ition on the other, gives us a working hypothesis 
where otherwise no solution of the problem of exist- 
ence would be possible. In the ordinary method em- 
ployed in such studies it is practically assumed that 
man is neither more nor less than a highly developed 
animal, as he is viewed solely from the physico- vital 
plane. If it be assumed that man has a soul, the 



-110 A Study of Man. 

burden of proof is shifted to the physical side as 
though visible forms and physical methods could 
prove the existence of an invisible entity. In other 
words, modern science denies a soul to man, and chal- 
lenges proof of its existence in terms of matter, force 
and motion apprehensible to the physical senses, for- 
getting that the physical senses constitute but one 
side of man's nature as viewed from the center, con- 
sciousness. It would be quite as logical and far more 
rational to proceed on the opposite hypothesis, as- 
suming that man has a soul, and requiring physical 
science to disprove it, particularly as so little real 
progress has been made. in the opposite direction. A 
better science, however, neither affirms nor denies. 
Admitting our utter ignorance of the essential nat- 
ure of any thing, it endeavors to apprehend laws and 
principles, and to discover relations. In the discov- 
ery of laws we proceed from the special to the uni- 
versal, and we thence discover a universe epitomized 
in a molecule. In order to rightly determine rela- 
tions, things must be put in their proper place, which 
means that they are to be taken in their natural or- 
der, very much as we find them. Classification must 
follow careful observation ; induction and deduction 
must be complementary, and through all there may 
be discovered a thread of analogy giving us a clue to 
the labyrinth. It is a fact in universal experience 
that the lower nature can never comprehend the 
higher. The animal in man can never comprehend 



Human Life. Ill 

the divine in man. It is equally a matter of univer- 
sal experience that the higher can comprehend the 
lower. When, therefore, from the plane of the ani- 
mal senses, man looks upward toward the divine he 
can aspire ; when, however, from the plane of the 
higher reason and intuition man views the planes of 
life below, he may comprehend them if he will. In 
ordinary life, a long experience extending through 
many vicissitudes is requisite in order that we may 
know a person. In another case the recognition is 
quick and sure, a glance of the eye, a pressure of the 
hand, and time and change are as naught. The soul 
recognizes its kindred by sympathy that is stronger 
than the ties of blood, and more enduring than time. 
Here is something that transcends sense-perception ; 
and though it exists among animals, and to some extent 
among men and women of a low type, its real nature 
and scope can only be appreciated through the higher 
nature of man. To call this sympathy, is by no means 
to define it. The most important consideration is 
that the fact reveals in man a method of direct recog- 
nition, or means of knowing beyond the routine of 
ordinary experience, or of sense-perception, and this 
direct method of knowing is not confined to the rec- 
ognition of persons and things but it extends also to 
principles and laws, and to abstract truth. It requires 
in the knower the elements and the experiences which 
compass the principle or thing to be known, as on the 
physical plane we find consonant rhythm producing 



112 A Study of Man. 

harmony. The recognition of the fact of subjective 
experience, or of the existence of a subjective plane, 
is not sufficient. When once it is apprehended that 
the cosmic duality enters into the life and nature of 
man, and that man's entire life is an equation of 
which phenomenal nature constitutes one member 
only, to which sense-perception is related, the prob- 
lem of life is placed in the way of solution. Until 
this principle is clearly discerned the extent and va- 
riety of subjective experiences can not be accurately 
determined. It makes every difference whether sub- 
jective experiences are regarded as incidental, and 
semi-accidental, or whether they are discovered to be 
universal, basic, and commensurate with all objective 
factors in the life of man. Until this principle of 
equations is discerned it will be useless to discuss the 
question of priority in the line of cause and effect, as 
to whether, for example, the soul builds the body, or 
the body the soul. For with the ordinary procedure 
from the physical to the metaphysical the whole in- 
vestigation proceeds from a material basis. The in- 
teraction and mutual dependence of soul and body in 
the orderly process of daily experience is thereby 
misapprehended, though in general terms it may be 
admitted. That which in platonic language is termed 
the descent of the soul into matter, has little mean- 
ing for the modern scientist, because evolution has 
set him to regard the processes of life purely as an 
ascent from lower to higher forms. The idea of an 



Human Life. 113 

equation is not apprehended wherein evolution is 
constantly supplemented by involution, and where 
equilibrium is established as the outgrowth of the 
cosmic duality. 

Enough perhaps has now been said to show the 
meaning and the application of the methods referred 
to in our study of man. Man has a two-fold nature 
in common with all created things, under the law of 
cosmic duality. Man's life therefore, exists here and 
now in two worlds, and he is more or less conscious 
of both. Man is therefore a self-conscious soul, in- 
habiting a physical and mortal body. What man 
was heretofore, and what he may be hereafter, con- 
cerns us not. What he is now, and what he may 
here become, are matters of the very first importance, 
and by no means beyond his plane of knowing. The 
mechanical structure of the physical body, the sub- 
stances that enter into the composition of its tissues, 
and the proportions of these substances in any given 
case are now quite accurately known. The mechan- 
ico-vital functions of the body and its various parts 
are also known to a considerable extent. Modern bi- 
ological science has seized every available opportunity 
and taken advantage of every accident to push its in- 
vestigations into the hitherto unknown realm of hu- 
man nature. Not only the ordinary and constantly 
recurring functions of the human body have been 
carefully studied but unusual pheuomena occurring 



114 A Study of Man. 

under special conditions and in exceptional individu- 
als have been subjected to careful scrutiny. In this 
way groups of phenomena have been gathered and 
classified, the existence of which were formerly un- 
known and unsuspected. If a given phenomenon 
occurs in a single individual and but once in a gene- 
ration, its occurrence is thereby shown to be possible 
to human nature, and it may occur again, or it may 
if desirable be induced when once its nature and the 
conditions of its occurrence are understood. It re- 
quired the light of science and free inquiry to enable 
us to study such rare occurrences. .Certain hysterical 
and hypnotic epidemics of the middle ages seemed to 
contemporary physicians altogether miraculous, and 
were supposed to be due to diabolical possession, 
which are now readily explained as hypnotic sugges- 
tion. The startling amount of energy displayed by 
certain individuals in these epidemics seemed to in- 
dicate supernatural power; the poor victims were 
often delicate women yet they successfully resisted 
the force of the strongest men. Making all due al- 
lowance for excitement, superstition, and exaggera- 
tion, there were beyond all reasonable doubt unusual 
manifestations, and an inexplicable amount of force 
displayed, and both the nature and the force of these 
exhibitions were entirely unaccounted for. When, 
however, we come to understand the real nature of 
sex, and its relation to what is vaguely termed mag- 
netism, the mystery begins to disappear. In the case 



Human Life. 115 

of the girl Angelique Cottin presented to the French 
Academy by Mons. Arago the nature and strength 
of this force was clearly demonstrated. In still more 
recent times there have doubtless been many similar 
occurrences but they have often been so mixed with 
fraud, and have taken place under such circumstances 
as to render it exceedingly difficult if not impossible 
to make investigation. When to these considera- 
tions is added the fact that the scientific investigator 
proceeds from a purely materialistic basis, regarding 
evolution as the one process by which development 
can occur, it may readily be seen how inadequate are 
his methods to cope with such phenomena. Scien- 
tific conservatism is both necessary and commenda- 
ble, but scientific nihilism is both unwise and unsci- 
entific; it is a misnomer. Until the subjective nat- 
ure of man is recognized as co-equal and co-extensive 
with the objective, and until the would-be scientist is 
ready to discard his prejudices and pre-conceived no- 
tions and allow facts to tell their own story, he had 
better leave all such subjects alone; he can but ren- 
der himself ridiculous, and add nothing to the sum 
of human knowledge in these directions. 

These subjects are referred to at this time because 
the day of empiricism is well nigh past, and the era 
of real .scientific investigation has begun. Even 
fraud and self-deception have had their day, and the 
light of a new day has already dawned. At no time 
since written history began have there accumulated 



116 A Study of Man. 

such a wealth, of material and such unlimited free- 
dom to investigation. The discoveries of physical 
science already impinge so closely on the "borders of 
the unseen universe, as to reveal glimpses beyond the 
realm of the ordinary senses. The veil has grown 
thin, and here and there it has been lifted, separating 
the external world of effects, from the internal world 
of causes. The power of mind over matter is every- 
where being recognized, and the uplifting of the hu- 
man race to higher planes has already begun. Old 
riddles are being solved; old traditions are passing 
away. The nemesis of error and of superstition is the 
resurrected genius of truth in the age that is dawning. 
The most senseless and terrible of all superstitions 
is the manner in which man is in the habit of regard- 
ing the beginning and the end of the present life. 
Life begins often in a tragedy, and is ushered in by 
wailing anguish. The chamber of birth is often a 
chamber of torture, enough to daunt the stoutest 
heart, save only the trained physician bent on his 
mission of mercy. And yet the tragedy is soon for- 
gotten amid rejoicings and offerings of flowers. 
Death is peaceful and painless, a very foretaste of 
bliss, as though nature sought to reward even the 
weakest and poorest after the lessons in life which 
she sets us here to learn. Yet we usher the soul out 
of the body with tears and anguish, and drape in 
blackness, and mourn where we should rejoice. For 
this perversion of the ways of nature we are largely 



Human Life. 117 

indebted to the traditions of the dark ages, and to the 
inherent selfishness derived from the animal plane of 
egoism. If we conld know all the sorrow and suffering 
that await the new-born soul even egotism would fail 
to make us rejoice in its coming. If we could know 
the rest and peace of dying even egotism could not 
make us mourn. In the new day that is dawning an 
infinite pity will possess humanity and death rather 
than birth will have garlands of flowers. Ho wonder 
that the little one comes out of its prison-house with 
a wail of anguish such as only the agonized mother- 
heart can understand. How terribly is its little life 
beset with pains and dangers, and its early youth 
with snares and pit-falls ! How many grow weary 
of the struggle, how many fall by the way ! 

" Little lips that never smiled, 
Little eyes that scarce did see ! 
Alas ! my little, dear, dead child, 
Death was thy father and not me ; 
I but embraced thee soon as he." 



" O little feet that such long years 
Must journey on through hopes and fears, 

Must ache and bleed beneath your load ! 
I, nearer to the way-side inn, 
Where toil shall cease and rest begin, 

Am weary thinking of your load." 

If we could know how we trammel these little 
ones, how we load upon them our sins and infirm- 
ities, how we grudge them the poor privilege of be- 
ing born after we have made birth a necessity ; if we 



118 A Study of Man. 

could know how we mold their little' lives and pre- 
determine their destiny we would at least stop and 
take counsel with ourselves. But a new generation 
of mothers is coming to the world and the children 
will be redeemed through them. In the new day 
that is dawning there will be no little waifs born to 
disbelief, to rebellion, and to crime ; no shrinking, 
terrified little ones never sure of a welcome from the 
cradle to the grave, hungering for love, yet shrinking 
from it as though every fiber of their lonely lives 
was steeped in distrust and self-abnegation ! What 
but infinite pity can understand the sorrows of child- 
hood! What but infinite love can reassure these 
unwelcome children ! Physiologists talk learnedly 
about temperaments, constitutions, and pre-disposi- 
tions to disease; and sociologists talk about pre-dis- 
position to crime ; and philanthropists, of reform. 
Education can never correct the defects of birth, nor 
can restraint or punishment prevent crime, nor re- 
form the criminal. Pre-natal conditions have fore- 
stalled all these and given to many lives a bias that 
nothing can change, a perversity that nothing can 
materially alter. When once this fact is realized, 
and when it is also realized how all these lamentable 
conditions can be prevented, then will earth's human- 
ity be other than it is now. He who attempts to 
study the human, and is ignorant of this sad chapter 
in the history of human nature, or he who imagines 
that he can ignore it and still arrive at any large 



Human Life. 119 

truths, will find himself mistaken. An adequate 
knowledge of man takes into account all his facul- 
ties, and all his surroundings, the conditions of birth, 
of parentage, and of inheritance, as a basis upon 
which to predicate his nature and destiny. These 
are the very elements of a study of human nature, 
and it is because these elements are so largely ignored 
that such unsatisfactory results are generally ob- 
tained. Only a bare outline of these elements and 
the method of study herein suggested has been at- 
tempted, but if these suggestions shall prove incen- 
tives to more competent investigators the object of 
the writer will have been accomplished. 

The science of anatomy has mapped out the hu- 
man body as a whole and has also given very concise 
details of its various parts, so that a clear and exact 
description of the human mechanism may be obtained. 
Thus to comprehend the human body, however, re- 
quires several years of very careful study, and to this 
must be added object-lessons in the way of dissections 
and demonstrations. It is found that the apparent 
unity of the physical body is due to the harmonious 
association of parts, and that this association is on 
the principle of primordial centers, and subordinate 
relations of other parts to these, and to the whole. 
These various parts are again composed of micro- 
scopic cells, while the cells originate from the simple 
living substance protoplasm, the differentiation of 
which into specific shapes constitutes the cell. It 



120 A Study of Man. 

may thus be seen that the body is a community of 
vital functions, and that these microscopic centers of 
life associate under definite conditions to produce ex- 
act forms. From this association arise the vitality 
of the body as a whole, the special functions of the 
different organs, and the tissues of the entire body. 
The vitality of the entire body depends on the integ- 
rity of the individual cells and their harmonious as- 
sociations. Disturbance of this integrity and har- 
mony arises from innumerable causes operating from 
within and from without. The result in any given case 
can not be predicted by knowing only the cause of dis- 
turbance, for not only is the result different in differ- 
ent cases, but it is seldom the same in any individual 
at different times. One individual may meet with 
impunity a condition that in another would destroy 
life, or which the same individual would at another 
time be unable to bear. One person dies from lock- 
jaw caused by a prick of a pin. Another may be 
mutilated almost beyond recognition and yet recover 
speedily and suffer no great inconvenience. Every 
case of injury or of disease becomes, therefore, a prob- 
lem by itself, more or less governed by general laws, 
yet in no case to be pre-determined. The vital equa- 
tion is constantly shifting and with every change a 
new problem presents itself. This susceptibility of 
the organism to disease and death, is the exact com- 
plement of its adaptability to the conditions of life, 
to more extended experience, and to wider knowledge. 



Human Life, 121 

It is the uncertainty of the tenure of life that fills the 
minds of men with superstitious fear, and places the 
masses at the mercy of the mountebank. It is a 
matter of great importance and often of very great 
difiiculty to determine when life is really in j eopardy ; 
and as this question presents itself as a somewhat 
different problem in every case, only a judgment cul- 
tivated by long study and close observation, and forti- 
fied by wide experience can hope to solve it. Even 
the most cultivated judgment is often at fault, and 
caution is its marked characteristic. Lucky hits, and 
happy accidents often give to ignorance and conceit 
the garb of wisdom. 

The science of anatomy teaches that the body is 
made up of organs composed of the living cells al- 
ready mentioned. It is furthermore discovered that 
certain of these organs are of a similar kind, and so 
the tissues are also classified into systems of organs. 
Hence we have the osseous system comprising all the 
bones of the body ; the circulatory system compris- 
ing all the blood-vessels of the body with the central 
heart ; the nervous, the glandular, the muscular, the 
digestive, the lymphatic systems, and so on. While 
each of these systems is employed in some special 
office they have a great deal in common. All the 
tissues are composed of cells, and every cell typifies 
the entire organism. The difference in the form of 
the cells determines the tissue of the various organs. 

These various systems are again grouped to form 



122 A Study of Man. 

two large classes, the organic and the specific. To 
the organic belong those organs and functions that 
maintain the bodily structure. These are digestion, 
absorption, secretion, respiration, circulation and the 
like. To the specific belong the motor, the sentient, 
the intellectual, and the like. Each cell, each organ, 
each system contributes something to the good of the 
entire structure, and receives in turn something from 
each and from the whole, for the maintenance of its 
own integrity.. Health means a perfect adjustment 
of all these parts and of all relations accordiDg to the 
laws of equilibrium and harmony. We can not con- 
cieve of a single microscopic cell being out of tune 
without disturbing thereby the harmony of the 
whole. There is moreover something more than this 
harmonious association ; there is an inter-penetration. 
The nerves, the blood-vessels and the lymphatics run 
every-where and penetrate all other tissues. Every 
microscopic cell is a station for export and import, 
receiving nutrient supplies, giving off effete matters. 
The blood-vessels are thus the highways of a mighty 
commerce, and from them is derived the significant 
expression, " the arteries of trade." There is the in- 
coming tide of food, water and oxygen, to say nothing 
of the effects of light, heat and magnetism. There is 
also the receding tide of carbon di-oxide, and worn 
out material; and so nicely is the balance adjusted, 
that with the several hundred pounds of materials 
annually thus taken in and given out, the avoirdupois 



I 



Human Life. 123 

of the body often remains for years the same. Aside 
from the tissues proper, the more permanent struct- 
ures of the body, there is thus a large amount of ma- 
terial constantly in transitu, and health demands that 
there shall be no collision between the incoming tide 
of nutrient material and the outgoing tide of effete 
matter. Indeed the mechanism and relations are so 
nicely adjusted that the presence and movements of 
the one facilitate the progress of the other. The 
body of man is thus like a walled city, with innumer- 
able inhabitants, that have discovered perpetual mo- 
tion, and that never rest and never sleep. This is an 
old idea and in mystical writings this city is called 
Jerusalem, Zion, and its nine avenues are called "the 
gates of the great city." 

If we examine the bony skeleton of man separated 
from all other portions of the body we get but an in- 
adequate idea of the human form. There are cavi- 
ties like the cranium, thorax and pelvis, mere excava- 
tions with nothing to indicate their previous contents. 
There is indeed symmetry in contour and an admira- 
ble adaptation of parts. The mechanism of the bones 
of the "brands and feet, and the various joints whereby 
a great variety of motions may be secured is wonder- 
ful. The spinal column seems inadequate to support 
the trunk and bear aloft the temple of the soul. Lit- 
tle idea of its great flexibility in life can be derived 
from the denuded spinal column. The skull with its 
smooth contour, its grinning teeth and its eyeless 



124 A Study of Man. 

sockets so little resembles the head in life that it 
ceases to be a wonder that it stands throughout all 
time as the emblem of death. If the entire bony 
structure of man were withdrawn from the body, only 
a mere pulp incapable of motion would remain ; the 
muscles, useless without fulcrums; the tendons, help- 
less without pulleys. 

If now we undertake to examine the muscular sys- 
tem separated from all other parts, we find that it 
more nearly conforms to the bodily outlines in life ; 
but the connections are wanting. The support and 
connecting links furnished by the bones, the stimulus 
of the nerves, the life-giving currents of the blood 
are wanting, and the muscles are incapable of the 
least motion. 

Considering next the circulatory system and imag- 
ining it to be withdrawn entire from the body, we 
find it a complicated system of tubes running to and 
from the heart. The arteries break up or subdivide 
into arterioles and capillaries, and these again unite 
to form the venules and then the veins, and so return 
to the heart. But that wonderful force-pump, the 
heart, will not work. It requires the stimulus of the 
nerves to keep it in motion, hence the stream of life 
is still. The system of blood-vessels shows the con- 
tour of the body, so finely divided are its capillary 
branches, ramifying through all the tissues, and cov- 
ering the surface of the body so that not a pin's point 
can find it wanting. In withdrawing the blood-ves- 
sels and their contents we have withdrawn but a 



Human Life. 125 

fraction of the entire weight of the body, yet none 
of the changes incident to life can go on. 

Turning now to the nervous system, the brain and 
spinal-cord and their appendages, together with the 
sympathetic nervous system, we shall find that its 
withdrawal from the body arrests all rhythmic mo- 
tion, all co-ordination ; sensation, feeling and thought 
are no longer possible. In contour the nervous mech- 
anism might remind one of the human form, though 
it would equally resemble an overgrown and distorted 
spider. 

The respiratory mechanism does not seem so ex- 
tensive nor so complicated as the other systems 
named, unless we consider it as part of the circula- 
tory apparatus, which indeed it is. Nothing can be 
more intimate than the relations existing between 
these two mechanisms and their functions. The 
blood and the air meet and mingle in the lungs. 
Here is the great motor of life, mechanical and mag- 
netic. All other functions may be arrested or greatly 
modified and a measure of life continue, but if the 
functions of the circulatory and respiratory systems 
are disturbed life at once begins to wane. In all dis- 
eases where the individual is liable to sudden death 
these two structures and their all-important functions 
are involved. In all diseases tending directly to 
death these functions are first to give signs of dis- 
tress. So long as the action of the heart and respira- 
tion are normal life is secure ; whenever Death ap- 



126 A Study of Man. 

proaches from whatever cause, these show the first 
signs of his coming. 

The glandular system of the human body has very 
important functions to perform. The office of this 
system is to separate substances from the blood and 
allow time and space for both composition and de- 
composition to occur. The products thus arising by 
separation are of two general classes, called secretions 
and excretions, the former of use to the system in 
carrying on its complicated functions, the latter not 
only waste and worthless, but positively injurious to 
the individual as well. In some cases only the form 
of noxious substances is changed, and there results a 
useful secretion. 

Back of all the systems and functions named, yet 
involving them all, is the nutritive system. This may 
be regarded as the basic function of all life. Nutri- 
tion involves the transformation of other substances 
into living matter, and the maintenance of the integ- 
rity of the tissues of the body. All processes of 
growth, development, repair and vitality are -largely 
questions of nutrition. If we regard nutrition as 
the basis of life and the central function to which all 
others are tributary, and yet upon which all depend 
for their maintenance and integrity, we shall get an 
idea of its relation and importance. The more direct 
factors in nutrition are digestion, absorption, circula- 
tion and the final act of assimilation. Regarding the 
nutritive process as a whole, the most important con- 



Human Life. 127 

sideration regarding it, is the fact that through its 
agency nutritive material is converted into living 
matter. This process is one of progression, "begin- 
ning in the digestive tract, and completed in the 
glandular system. The substances so formed, the 
lymph or chyle corpuscles, are in mere endowment 
of life superior to any other substances in the body. 
The nutritive function, therefore, lays the physical 
foundations of life, replenishing its reservoirs, and vi- 
talizing its streams. 

Having briefly outlined some of the principal sys- 
tems and organs of which the complex body of man ' 
is composed, let us regard them in situ, each in its 
proper place with due relation to one another. We 
have not yet discovered the mainspring of life. 
What makes the wheels go round ? If we now ob- 
serve a living man what do we see ? First, he 
breathes ; the lungs expand and contract, and there 
is the incoming and outgoing tide of air. The ex- 
♦pansion and contraction of the heart is synchronous 
with the action of the lungs, and the blood starts on 
its busy round supplying life-giving elements to every 
part, and removing effete matter to be exposed in the 
lungs to the transforming power of oxygen. The 
muscles quiver with expectancy, awaiting the thrill 
of life at command of the will. Life blooms on the 
cheek ; intelligence beams in the eye ; emotion dances 
like a band of nymphs around the mobile mouth, and 
the conscious soul of man beams in the human face. 



128 A Study of Man. 

What have we here not discernible from our previous 
outlines of the systems and organs ? We have mo- 
tion, visible, rhythmic motion. The breath typifies 
and illustrates this motion. The regularity with 
which we breathe in, and breathe out, is a to-and-fro 
motion from surface to center, and from center to sur- 
face. Thus is expressed and illustrated man's rela- 
tion to the world about him. He is a self-conscious 
center of life, adjusting his relations to his surround- 
ings at every breath, and the process of the incoming 
food and the outgoing debris are upon the same prin- 
ciple. We seldom pause to consider how much mo- 
tion has to do with both the maintenance and the 
manifestation of life. If we imagine' an individual 
reclining in an easy posture, how do we know 
whether he is alive or dead? His face is calm, his 
eyes wide open. Is he conscious or unconscious, 
alive or dead ? Let us see. We address him, and he 
makes no response ; still he may be playing a part, or 
he may be in a trance. Notice the eyelids; they 
move not, not a quiver around the sensitive mouth 
no visible sign of life, no outward manifestation. 
We seek the pulse to see if the blood- wave reaches 
the wrist. It is not there ; we drop the ear to the re- 
gion over the heart, no sound is heard. We rest the 
hand over the chest, but can detect no rise or fall. 
We lift an arm, and on letting it go it falls as a dead 
weight. The case is now desperate. As a last resort 
we hold a mirror to the mouth, and its brightness 



Human Life. 129 

is not dimmed by a faint breath; or we press the 
blood from the surface veins, and it returns not. 
Alas, he is dead ! Trances have been known so deep 
as to resemble death, but they are the exception 
and need not be noted here. We thus see that inter- 
nal molecular and rhythmic motion, and outward vis- 
ible motion are the conditions of life and its mani- 
festation. We have here just the conditions that 
were shown in a previous section to belong to the ex- 
ternal world of phenomena. These same conditions 
also concern the outward manifestation of conscious- 
ness, but do not concern consciousness perse; for just 
the conditions above described have occurred, and the 
individual has preserved the memory of conscious ex- 
perience thus occurring under altogether different 
surroundings and conditions. 

We have thus sought the mainspring of life in a 
complicated mechanism by viewing its larger aspects, 
and by proceeding from without inward. Let us now 
study man from his beginning. 

The body of man in common with all animals and 
plants originates in a germ.. Previous to fertilization 
the germ resembles a tissue cell. It has no continu- 
ous life of its own apart from the body that produced 
it. Fertilization or impregnation constitutes it an in- 
dependent center of life, which under definite condi- 
tions it can maintain and expand. It begins to un- 
fold or evolve as elsewhere described or outlined. 
9 



130 A Study, of Man. 

Life it had already as endowed by the maternal life. 
This pre-existing life comprised exceeding mobility, 
irritability and sensitiveness. There was doubtless 
latent consciousness, but now it starts on its upward 
journey toward self-consciousness. Definite relations 
are established between center and surface ; and these 
relations accompany it in all its subsequent career. 
The struggle for existence from germ to adult life of 
man, is a continual adjustment between center and 
surface-^rbetween the individual and his environment. 
The ideal center becomes self-conscious. If this how- 
ever were all, man would be a living cell, large or 
small, simple or complex, but no more. We have 
similar organisms but they are never endowed with 
the human form divine. A single act of impregnation 
starts the whole process. From the physical side of 
the problem nutrition and differentiation comprise it. 
A center of life derives from these two processes that 
which enables the plant to compass and continue its 
cycle and maintain it perennially; but they do not 
account for the specific form even of plants. Grant 
that the unfolding of this form is progressive both in 
individuals and in species ; but whence arises the defi- 
nite type toward which progress is continually made ? 
We have already shown that all lower forms of life 
may be regarded as fragments of the human, and 
that the higher mammals are rudimentary human be- 
ings. What does the act of impregnation do, aside 
from establishing an independent center of life? It 



Human Life. 131 

impresses upon the germ the specific character and 
limitations of the paternal form. This endowment 
meets the endowment of personality on the physi- 
cal side at the very center, and the union of these 
constitutes the germ of self-consciousness, just as the 
endowment of life on the vegetative plane creates 
a germ of consciousness. The ideal form is an 
overshadowing presence progressively involved at 
every stage of growth as the outer structure is 
evolved. In the human embryo this is the Adonai, 
the shining one. It is an endowment from the sub- 
jective world through the spiritual side of man's nat- 
ure, and so maintains the duality of human exist- 
ence, and preserves and progressively perfects the hu- 
man form. 

The germ when vivified begins then to unfold. It 
at first vegetates ; cells multiply as in the simplest 
plant. Membranous expansions of cells arise ; then a 
mere trace indicates the spinal cord and digestive 
tract. One little mass indicates the location of the 
brain, inclosing two little vesicles, the rudimentary 
eyes. Little currents slightly branching show where 
by and by the pulses shall beat, ebb and flow, and 
presently on one of these appears a slight expansion, 
and in this a gentle quivering motion. The elixir 
works ; the magic of life has begun to show forth ; 
the heart has caught the rhythm of the ether and is 

" Keeping time, time, time, 
In a sort of runic rhyme." 



132 A Study of Man. 

By and by the organs are all formed ; the miniature 
man or woman is complete ; the beating of the little 
heart can be heard through the walls of its dark 
prison. Then come the throes of anguish, the agony 
of motherhood. Miraculous changes are rapidly 
taking place, in heart, in liver, in blood-vessels; 
old channels are dried up, and new ones formed. 
Little doors close forever. There comes a gasp, a 
sigh, a faint wail. The little cheeks are crimson, the 
chest rises and falls ; the wheels of life go round ; the 
miracle is accomplished; a child is born. There is 
little intelligence in the eyes that shun the light, yet 
there may be a deeper intelligence of the world from 
whence the little one comes. Who knows ? 

" Who can tell what a baby thinks? 
Who can follow the gossamer links 
By which the manikin feels its way 
Out from the shore of the great unknown, 
Weeping and wailing and all alone ? " 

All future growth is but a continuation of processes 
already begun. E"o principle can be discovered in 
the life of man that has not here its root and rise.. 
The dawn of consciousness, the growth of intelli- 
gence, the manifestation of life through co-ordinate 
rhythm establishing that equilibrium we call health, 
all these have their potency and prophecy in the vivi- 
fied germ. Millions of times this miracle is repeated, 
yet millions regard it with indifference. Accident, 
caprice or blind lust determines it ten thousand times 



Human Life. 133 

where love and wise forethought provide for it but 
once. Nativities are saturated with murder and 
marked by paternal thoughts that are crimes. Little 
helpless souls are thus scarred all over, and evil des- 
tinies are thus heaped upon them from their very 
birth. horrible reproach on the divine office of 
parentage ! And yet we wonder at perversity, at 
wickedness and at crime, and build almshouses and 
prisons, asylums for the insane, and homes for the 
multiplicity of our abominations, and then credit our- 
selves with Christian charity ! Even yet our boasted 
civilization has not done with these waifs of time, 
brought here without their consent, denied the royal 
welcome which is theirs by divine right. Unwel- 
come, perverse, bearing the sins of matured wicked- 
ness in their frail bodies, hedged about, handicapped 
by the very Medusa's helmet, terrified, bewildered, 
it would seem that the measure of our iniquity were 
full and their damnation complete. But no, we sum- 
mon the sacred name and garb of religion and follow 
them into the unseen and unknown. Having per- 
fected the tragedy called life, we crown peaceful, si- 
lent, beneficent death with fear and despair ! If you 
deny this portraiture, my brother, my sister, tell us 
whence this surging mass that fill our prisons, and 
insane asylums ? Whence the larger mass that scout 
the very name of religion, that clamor for work, for 
bread ? Whence come the mobs, the socialists, the 
murderers, the suicides ? Count these millions in our 



134 A Study of Man. 

boasted civilization, and call it Christian if you can. 
There is but one single cause for all this misery of 
human life, and it can be spoken in one word, ego- 
tism. It arises from ingrained selfishness, derived 
from the animal in man, forgetting all good for the 
sake of self. Selfish passion, a moment's pleasure 
and an age of pain, selfish greed, the survival of the 
fittest, what are these but the shibboleth of the 
devil, the slogan of the infernal regions ? It is not a 
hell for man, but a hell in man, created by man. 
" Human beings are not fit to be parents till they are 
morally of age, and as being is before knowing and 
doing, I affirm that education can never repair the 
defects of birth." * It has been elsewhere shown 
that all inherited bias pertains to the temporary per- 
sonality of man, and that the self-conscious individu- 
ality has to get rid of the evil heritage, and confirm 
and co-ordinate the virtuous heritage by use in order 
to make it his own. There is no subject that lies so 
near the cause of all human ills, and that is so potent 
a factor in the regeneration of the human race as the 
conditions of parentage and the influence of so-called 
heredity, or natal and ante-natal conditions. When- 
ever as much care and forethought are bestowed on 
the begetting of children as upon the breeding of 
horses and cattle, a new order of humanity will ap- 
pear on the earth. If the reader is disposed to ridi- 

* James Pierpont Greaves. 



Human Life. 135 

cule such plain speaking let him first ask himself 
whether these considerations are not true. Having 
satisfied himself on this point, as a mere matter of in- 
telligence, he may ridicule or approve as seemeth to 
him "best. 

Having hriefly outlined the process by which the 
fertilized germ develops into a child, hy evolution of 
the bodily structure, and involution of the human 
form, and having arrived at the basis of all subse- 
quent function, all human qualities which exist po- 
tentially in the child, we shall find that the conditions 
of further unfolding are the same in kind as in the 
embryo, though differing in form and conditions. 
From germ to birth the process is continuous though 
it seems to be marked by distinct stages. Between 
these various stages there are, however, no abrupt 
transitions. Each preceding stage leads up by imper- 
ceptible degrees to the one that follows. Take, for 
example, the nutritive changes. First we have the 
merely vegetative form of cell multiplication and cell 
nutrition. As the embryonic life advances this form 
of nutrition is replaced by what is known as tuft nu- 
trition. This again gives place to placental nutri- 
tion, and this again to lactation after the birth of the 
child. These various changes or stages of nutrition 
relate to the method and mechanism by which the 
nutritive material is elaborated or raised from non- 
living to living matter. In plain terms the only ques- 
tion is : Where does the germ, the embryo, the foetus 



136 A Study of Man. 

and the child get its food ? In all these cases the an- 
swer is : from the maternal body. The process called 
weaning is the most abrupt and radical of all these 
nutritive changes. Henceforth the child manufact- 
ures its own matter-of-life, raises so-called dead mat- 
ter to the form called living-biogen. The process by 
which this living matter is differentiated into tissues 
and organs is from first to last the same. The proc- 
ess by which a tissue, an organ or an entire organism 
is built, is the same prdcess by which when built these 
all continue to act. In other words, the basic princi- 
ple behind all function is the principle which deter- 
mines growth and development of structure. The 
function builds the organ ; the organ exercises the 
function ; the principle of sound builds the ear ; the 
principle of light builds the eye ; the principle upon 
which thought proceeds builds the brain, and so on, 
else organ and function would not be so definitely re- 
lated. The act of impregnation sets in motion the 
wheels of life. Evolution of the physical structure 
begins. Mobility and irritability of the living matter 
at the center of the germ, the nucleolus, or germinal 
spot, are progressively unfolded and differentiated, 
evolved from center to surface. These outgoing 
waves and impulses are met and limited by ingoing 
waves that determine the form, limit and direct the 
unfolding of the germ. Between these two groups 
of impulses there is continual adjustment, equilib- 
rium. Previous to impregnation the germ is a sim- 



Human Life. 137 

pie cell, detached it is true from the maternal body, 
conditioned so that it can take on an individual exist- 
ence of its own ; yet without the fertilizing process it 
speedily dies. The genesis of individual life on the 
physical side, is co-incident with the endowment of 
specific form on the spiritual side. There hence arises 
a tension between these processes, and at the center 
where both unite, there is a poise. Irritability of liv- 
ing matter reaches the sensibility of a growing organ- 
ism, thence proceeds consciousness in the advanced 
foetus, and finally self-consciousness dawns in the 
child. At birth the organs are all formed. The 
child is a man or a woman in miniature. The proc- 
ess continues ; by the same process of differentiation 
and evolution on the one side, and of progressive in- 
volution on the other, the child expands toward ma- 
turity. The most important factor herein disclosed 
is consciousness. Potentially it is transmitted like 
the quality of life itself to the germ. We may say 
senso-genesis and conscio-genesis, as well as bio-genesis. 
Self-consciousness, however, is a condition that tran- 
scends and co-ordinates all lower forms. It is a 
strictly human attribute. It is the result of man's 
larger and more complete relations to nature on a su- 
perior plane. Man reaches this plane only by pass- 
ing through and beyond all lower planes. As already 
pointed out, all lower forms of life, in form and qual- 
ity are fragmentarily human. The higher mammals 
are rudimentarily human. Man only embodies them 



138 A Study of Man. 

all. Every human being passes through these forms 
in his embryonic and foetal journey toward self-con- 
sciousness, so that the principle is true in humanity at 
large, and in every individual case. It was previously 
stated that all knowledge is derived through experi- 
ence. Herein may be seen man's journey of expe- 
rience, his kinship with all lower nature. His ex- 
perience on the human plane is the consensus of the 
experience of all lower forms of life, not theoretically, 
but actually. The self-consciousness of man is there- 
fore the combined experience of the whole world of 
plants and animals. One might say in all truth and 
soberness: "Only a few years ago I was vege- 
tating; a little later I was a mollusk; then a 
fish swimming in a soul-locked sea; and a little 
later I was reptile, a bird, a mammal, and now a 
man." Memory only is wanting. He has forgotten 
these experiences just as he has ten thousand others 
since he was born. Every physiologist will say that 
this is true ; that so far as conditions and relations 
are known these are the physiological facts. But a 
still further and far more important inference remains 
to be drawn. If self-consciousness in man implies a 
consensus of all lower forms of experience, is there 
not a still higher human plane ? Is there not a state 
in which man rises to a higher plane, where the in- 
dividual through sympathy and love may become the 
consensus of humanity, and so reach divine con- 
sciousness, an all-consoling sympathy, an all-embrac- 



Human Life, 139 

ing love ? In this state may we not remember those 
who are bound as though bound with them, mourn- 
ing with those who mourn, rejoicing with those 
that rejoice, the animal egotism giving place to 
the divine altruism ? This is the true meaning 
of Christos. What we call the human is an inter- 
mediate stage between the animal and the divine. 
The body of man then is a human form in which 
to unfold divine attributes — a way-side inn in the 
upward journey of the soul. We may study man 
to some purpose if we will, and learn the meaning of 
life, and the destiny of the soul. To do this we must 
honor every truth by use, and learn here as elsewhere 
by experience. Blind superstition and ignorant cre- 
dulity have had their day, so has materialistic sci- 
ence. A diviner science awaits him who places truth 
above all things, for all truth is given by inspiration, 
and all truth is divine. The true, the good, and God 
are one. Man learns these as he learns to know pain 
and pleasure, by experience. 

The human body does not necessarily imply human 
qualities. ■ In a certain sense man is only a higher an- 
imal. We may degrade every human attribute to the 
very lowest animal plane. Destruction, rapacity and 
cruelty, coupled with the human consciousness and 
intelligence are in no sense human. The essentially 
human is the humane ; and in this regard many of 
the lower animals in affection and faithfulness, even 
in the face of abuse and cruelty, might cause many a 



140 A Study of Man. 

man to blush for his inhumanity. The most fitting 
associates for many persons would be the tiger, the 
hyena or the snake. This is neither more nor less 
than the development of the animal ego, and the more 
common forms of lust and greed may be a little less 
animal but scarcely more humane. Selfishness is the 
root of all these, and this is essentially brutal and not 
human. "We have seen that polarization implies a 
tension between two points, ideally a straight line 
having two extremities and a wave of motion between 
these. Aside from matter, force and motion we have 
the idea of form, and this again includes molecular 
motion and differentiation. All these are concomi- 
tants of polarity. A magnetic needle is a piece of 
steel rhythmically adjusted to the polar magnetic 
wave, and mechanically free to maintain this relation 
in the face of all oscillations. Its horizontal posi- 
tion presents the line of least attraction to the terres- 
trial magnetism. The human body is composed of 
an innumerable number of polarized cells. The 
grouping of these cells is according to the principle 
of polarity. The body of man as a whole is mag- 
netic, and consists of a series of magnets, the poles 
of which are systematically yet subordinately ar- 
ranged. The magnetic centers of the body are 
many, and the supremacy of any given center may 
be fixed or temporary. It may be the cerebral cen- 
ter that governs at one time, the sexual center at 
another, the gustatory at another, and so on. There 



Human Life. 141 

are also centers of vitality proper, as the heart 
and lungs connected with the medulla. The cere- 
bellum is a co-ordinating center of muscular mo- 
tion. The solar plexus and spleen are related to- 
gether as the true magnetic center ; while the cere- 
brum is a co-ordinating center of centers. The rela- 
tion of the human body to the earth is entirely dif- 
ferent when it is prone, and when it is erect. In the 
one case the correlative earth's magnetism is related 
to the diamagnetism of man ; in the other, to magnet- 
ism proper. In the prone position we may be said 
to absorb magnetism ; in the upright position we dis- 
sipate it. In Yon Eeichenbach's experiments a stream 
of light was seen to issue from the eyes, from the 
hands and feet, from the genital and gastric regions. 
In some cases this magnetic light has been seen to 
stream from the back of the head and fill the room. 
Of the normal body as a whole the head is positive 
and the feet negative; the right hand is positive, 
the left negative, and so on. The arterial blood is 
positive and the venous negative, and the heart is an 
electro-motor by virtue of the presence and tidal 
waves of red and blue blood. The contraction and 
relaxation of muscle becomes possible through the 
circulation by which the muscular tension is renewed. 
Every muscle is to some extent a storage-battery. 
These points might be multiplied almost without end. 
Our object is only to demonstrate the existence of the 



142 A Study of Man. 

principle of polarity, and to illustrate its mode of 
action. 

Terrestrial magnetism separates the androgynous 
shoot in the germinating seed, and sends the male 
element deep into the bowels of the earth, and the 
female element up into the air with its .potency of 
leaf and flower and its prophecy of fruit and seed. 
The tree is thus anchored to the earth, and its polar- 
ity is thus fixed. Quadrupeds and all other lower an- 
imals maintain a comparatively uniform magnetic re- 
lation to the earth and their surroundings. Man 
alone is an upright animal, a center of life, and a 
law unto himself commensurate with knowledge. 
Man's relation to surrounding nature is thus positive 
in a far higher degree than that of any other animal. 
He commands the forces of nature, adjusts himself 
to her varying moods and thus conquers through obe- 
dience to her laws. Nature steadfastly refuses to be 
subordinated in any other way. In a certain large 
sense man is therefore positive in his relations to nat- 
ure, and the degree in which he is able to maintain 
this relation is as already stated in direct proportion 
to his knowledge and obedience to law. The degree 
of this positive relation of man to nature determines 
temperament, health, vigor and his relation to his 
fellow-men. It is moreover the foundation of sex 
and the relation of the sexes to each other. The 
positive man triumphs over the negative who is the 
weaker element. Motive gives color to the result of 



Human Life. 143 

this domination, but does not determine the fact. 
As a rule man is positive and woman negative as re- 
lated to each other, though notable exceptions can be 
found. This is the normal relation, and they may be 
equal in power notwithstanding this relation, for 
woman naturally triumphs through the affectional 
nature, and man through the intellectual. The 
higher the individual in the scale of being, the more 
these two natures are united in him or in her. The 
very variableness of these conditions and relations 
enables man to adjust himself to his surroundings 
and to triumph over all lower forms of life. To il- 
lustrate man's positive relations to nature, let us 
imagine a well-born, well-developed individual in 
health. Health blooms in the cheeks, intelligence in 
his eyes ; reason sits enthroned on his brow ; strength 
and elasticity are in his step, and courage and cheer- 
fulness are in his voice. He is born to command, to 
triumph, to endure. Imagine now that he is sud- 
denly alarmed, terrified. His cheek grows pale ; his 
eyes, dull and staring, his hair stands endwise ; a chill 
creeps over his flesh, his knees tremble, his voice fal- 
ters or fails ; his heart flutters and his breath comes 
with a gasp or a shriek. A mere mental emotion, 
has instantly conquered more swift and sure than 
Delilah. Samson is shorn of his strength. The man 
has suddenly reversed his whole relation to external 
nature. This negative condition is produced in part 
or in whole, in greater or less degree by a great vari- 



144 A Study of Man. 

ety of causes. It is more or less approximated by the 
scenes and influences of night that succeeds the day, 
and by the innumerable predisposing causes of dis- 
ease — all excesses, all forms of dissipation, and all 
previous disease. Therefore, fear or any other cause 
that produces this negative condition, invites disease. 
Any thing that disturbs the equilibrium and harmony 
of the body as a whole or in part, begets disease and 
tends toward dissolution. Not only habits of body 
but habits of thought may thus be classed as conserv- 
ative or destructive. The habitual indulgence of 
envy, hatred, avarice or lust, tends to the promotion 
of bodily disease ; while pure and noble thoughts, 
and the exercise of love and kindness promote life 
and health and insure happiness, even in a strictly 
physiological sense. 

Through the great dual law of action and reaction 
man is enabled to regain his lost equilibrium, though 
frequent repetition of disturbing influences weakens 
resistance and tends to the fixation of the evil habit. 
As shown under the law of differentiation, the com- 
plexity of any organ in man is not a necessity per se, so 
far as the special function is concerned ; but is ren- 
dered necessary by the complexity of the organism of 
which it is a part, on the principle of equilibrium and 
general harmony of the whole individual. These re- 
lations of parts to the whole, and of the whole organ- 
ism to its environment, whereby equilibrium is secured 



Human Life. 145 

and harmony maintained through primordial and 
subordinate centers, are bound to one another by defi- 
nite ratios. The principle is the same as that which 
underlies the whole science of music. Indeed every 
principle in nature is epitomized in man, according 
to the plane of his ascent and development. There 
is in nature a unit of space, a unit of time, a unit of 
matter, of force and of motion; and there is a 
common multiple of all these which justly con- 
tains them all. How else could harmony result 
anywhere, and nature unfold on a uniform plan? 
This common multiple exists in man, as the key- 
note of his life, determining the pitch and qual- 
ity, the major or the minor character of his being. 
This principle may be most readily illustrated by the 
functions of the lungs and heart, and their relations 
to each other and to the rest of the organism. Both 
these functions vary in different individuals. The 
beating of the heart is modified by many causes, as is 
also the respiration ; but in general terms the respira- 
tion is to the heart's action as one to four. In mod- 
ern life there will generally be found a fraction in 
favor of the heart, but this is due to the immense 
strain that is put upon that organ by nervous excite- 
ment and unnatural modes of life. In these two or- 
gans with their complicated functions may be cen- 
tered many of the essentials of life. These functions 
determine the rhythm, the pitch and the quality of 
10 



146 A Study of Man. 

the physical life of man. These processes, respiration 
and circulation, if rightly interpreted may furnish 
a coefficient of the individual life. They are the 
mathematical basis, and may lead to the metaphysi- 
cal basis, just as we find biogen the physical basis, giv- 
ing rise to form by differentiation. In health we in- 
hale and exhale with perfect regularity. This simple 
process illustrates the whole mechanism of man as a 
complex being. If we could witness the process that 
occurs in the pulmonary capillaries, we should see a 
pulsating mass composed of tubes, enlarging and con- 
tracting rhythmically, and at the climax of expansion 
instantly changing color from a dull leaden blue to a 
living — nay, luminous, crimson, as though the bel- 
lows were regularly applied to the smoldering embers 
of life. Sleeping or waking this process goes on 
from the first faint gasp of the new-born child, to the 
last breath of the centogenarian. The elements or 
equivalents of force which maintain this wonderful 
process are derived directly from the great solar plexus, 
while the rhythmic power, co-ordinating these activ- 
ities with all other functions of the body, is derived 
from the brain and spinal cord through the pneumo- 
gastric and cerebro-spinal centers. Through these 
last-named structures the chemism of the body is 
subordinated to its vitality ; and with the control of 
the sweat-glands and general excretory outlets and 
the epethelial tissues aided by the thermic nerves, the 
temperature is maintained with most remarkable uni- 



Human Life. 147 

formity. This process that we have imagined as wit, 
nessed in the lungs is continued to the remotest ele- 
ments of the body. If we could witness the display 
of the body's finer forces, we should see it expand 
and contract at every breath and rhythmically 
brighten, as if a human glow-worm. We know as a 
matter of fact that the magnetic power of the body 
is largely and immediately increased by slow, deep 
inspirations, and that this accumulative power can 
thus be thrown from the hands upon a sensitive per- 
son in sensible quantities producing marked effects. 

This to-and-fro respiratory motion may be taken as 
representative of the entire bodily functions. Large 
quantities of food and drink are taken in and an 
equivalent given off continually, so that the physical 
as well as the physiological and psychical equilibrium 
is maintained. Here then is the operation of a two- 
fold law, attraction and repulsion, inspiration and ex- 
piration, oxidation and de-oxidation, expansion and 
contraction, diastole and systole, sensation and mo- 
tion — all these operations illustrating the law that 
lies at the very foundation of the manifestation 
of life. This is the principle of universal dual- 
ity. Its operation is like the swinging of a pendu- 
lum; just so far as the oscillation proceeds in one 
direction, just so far must it go in the opposite direc- 
tion, and with equal force and velocity, else all the 
wheels of life run down and time for man ceases. 
This principle of duality lies at the foundation of 



148 A Study of Man. 

every function of man, is the basis of all pathology, 
and in every case determines drug action. There is 
always action and reaction, and these are ideally but 
not mechanically equal. It is because they are un- 
equal in fact, that man sickens and dies before his 
time. To secure this exact equality is the secret of 
perpetual youth. Every vital problem, therefore, in 
health or in disease presents itself as an equation to 
be solved. The somnolence produced by opium is 
succeeded by insomnia; stimulation is followed by 
depression ; excitement is followed by lassitude. 
The manifestation of these effects may sometimes 
seem unequal. Sometimes the reaction may seem 
out of all proportion to the primary action. This is 
because in one case the effect is precipitated on a sin- 1 
gle organ or a single group, and in the other case it is 
diffused over wider areas. It is as though one mem- 
ber of the equation were a unit and the other mem- 
ber a series of fractions reducible to the same unit. 
Another apparent exception is seen in youth and old 
age. The recuperative power in the one case and 
the waning vitality in the other do not annul the 
equation, but merely alter the form of its members 
and modify the true method of solution, the princi- 
ple is the same. In youth there is a reserve of phys- 
ical power, the vital reservoir is full. In the decline 
of life the physical forces fail but the higher powers 
ripen. The planes of life are naturally reversed in 
youth and age, not only as regards the physical and 



Human Life. 149 

rational faculties, but this reversal involves the sensu- 
ous and spiritual powers as well. The poet Heine has 
beautifully expressed this change : 

" Warm summer dwells upon thy cheek 
And in thy laughing eyes ; 
While in thy little heart, fair child, 
Cold, frosty winter lies. 

But these I think as time rolls on 

Will play a different part; 
Then winter on thy cheek shall be, 
. And summer in thy heart." 

Let us now briefly examine some of the functions 
of the body. These are divided into two general 
groups. In the first category are placed those that 
are directly concerned in the maintenance of the 
bodily structure ; such as digestion, absorption, se- 
cretion, circulation, respiration and reproduction. 
These are called organic functions. In the other cat- 
egory are placed all other functions and these while 
indirectly concerned in the maintenance of the bod- 
ily life are concerned with higher and more special 
offices. To these belong sensation, muscular motion, 
thought, and all the higher mental operations, and 
more especially the co-ordinating function of the 
nerve centers. These last-named secure the equilib- 
rium and harmony of the whole organism through 
an equable distribution of energy, both as regards dis- 
sipation and the conservation of force. 

All function implies motion, and this motion may 



150 A Study of Man. 

be visible, bodily motion, or internal, perceptible mo- 
tion, like that of the heart and pulse-wave ; or again, 
it may consist of imperceptible molecular motion, 
like that present in processes of digestion, oxidation, 
nutrition and the like. 

The manifestation of life, and the exercise of func- 
tion alike depend on motion and are equally phenom- 
enal. Let us suppose that we have under observa- 
tion an individual in health, and in a passive condi- 
tion, that is, with all the organs quiescent ; the bodily 
temperature is normal, the breathing quiet and regu- 
lar, the heart's action rhythmical, and the circulation 
equable. Now let us introduce food into this individ- 
ual's stomach ; this will be the signal for very marked 
changes to occur. The color of the stomach changes 
from a pale pinkish hue to a crimson ; it becomes 
thickened and roughened. If a delicate thermometer 
were now applied to the coat of the stomach there 
would be found a perceptible rise in temperature. If 
the gastric blood-vessels are examined they will be 
found engorged, and the general circulation and the 
heart's action will be found to be accelerated. By 
this time there is a now from the mouths of the gas- 
tric follicles of gastric juice. This is incorporated 
with the food and digestion has begun. The signal for 
all these changes is the mere presence of food in the 
stomach. The presence of an indigestible substance, 
or the irritating of the stomach with a stick, would 



Human Life. 151 

produce similar results. There is a change in color, 
change in the thickness of the coat of the stomach, 
increase of blood, increased chemical action and hence 
increased temperature. During this process there is 
a withdrawal both of blood and of energy from the 
entire organism to be focused on the stomach, which 
is now the center of activity. Digestion in the stom- 
ach being completed the stomach is emptied of its 
contents and resumes its normal quiescent condition, 
while the center of activity passes down accompany- 
ing the food along the digestive tract, till the result- 
ants of digestion enter the blood. If this activity of 
the stomach is unduly prolonged, if too much food or 
indigestible food be taken, every degree that the 
stomach is rendered active beyond the normal point, 
as to time or quantity of activity, constitutes func- 
tional disease, the difference between normal and ab- 
normal activity being solely one of degree. In the 
one case the action is called physiological; in the 
other unphysiological. Herein are seen both the con- 
ditions and phenomena of all physiological activity ; 
no matter what tissues or organs are involved. Even 
the function of the brain, and the process of thought 
are no exception. Functional activity implies an in- 
crease of blood to the part acting, therefore increased 
size and increased color, increased activity, therefore 
more rapid oxidation, chemism, and this increased 
activity is followed by lassitude or a measure of ex- 



152 A Study of Man. 

haustion calling for rest. Likewise in all cases nor- 
mal activity is physiological, abdormal activity is un- 
physiological, constituting functional disorder, which 
when oft repeated or long continued extends to per- 
manent derangement of structure. Functional activ- 
ity merges in functional disorder, and this into chronic 
disturbance of function and finally into organic dis- 
ease. Again, in the functional changes observed in 
the stomach we have all the symptoms of inflamma- 
tion here as elsewhere, function falls short of inflam- 
mation only in degree. In either case the tendency 
is for the phenomena to subside and for the equilib- 
rium to be restored. Whenever the restorative proc- 
ess is unduly prolonged and unusually difficult, and 
the recuperative energy of the organism begins to 
fail the result is fever. The entire organism thus 
participates in the disturbance. The primary condi- 
tions are now manifest on a larger scale. Inflamma- 
tion and fever indicate disturbance, but they in no 
sense constitute disease, but rather should be regarded 
as local and general efforts to get rid of disease. An 
organism that is incapable of inflammation and fever 
is incapable of maintaining its own integrity. Such 
an organism is not long capable of life. Without in- 
flammation no wound unites. The point of perfect 
health is indicated when the local inflammation is ex- 
actly sufficient to unite the wound and no more. In 
such cases the repair seems almost miraculous. Per- 
fect health is however somewhat rare. In such cases 



Human Life. 153 

where there is general disturbance and fever, from 
whatsoever cause, immediately preceding the rise 
in temperature there is an interval of general de- 
pression and in very many cases a chill. The 
fever is a reaction from this depressed condition, 
and depression again follows the fever in its subsi- 
dence. The oscillations become less marked till equi- 
librium is restored. These oscillations of depression 
and elevation, of chill and fever, are characteristic of 
all acute inflammations and of all fevers, though they 
are sometimes so slight as to elude observation de- 
pending in such cases on a large degree of vitality. 
The measure and degree of danger in all subsequent 
conditions is thus often indicated by the severity of 
the chill, though here again if the oscillations be ex- 
treme and the vitality be great the disturbance all the 
sooner subsides. It may thus be seen that every case 
of disturbed function or disease is complete in itself, 
and to be judged and measured by itself, though oc- 
curring under the form of the general vital equation, 
the duality of nature. 

Medical writers have found great difficulty in de- 
fining fever just in proportion as their theories have 
allowed them to forget the conditions and manifesta- 
tion of all functional activity. In as much as both 
functional activity and pathological disturbance or in- 
flammation produce local exhaustion requiring rest, 
removal of disintegrated matter and repair by nutri- 
tion ; so is the chill that precedes fever an approxi- 



154 A Study of Man. 

mate death of the whole bodily structure, and the 
elevated temperature that follows is due to the more 
rapid oxidation requisite to remove effete matter, and 
the loss of strength and flesh so manifest in long-con- 
tinued fevers is thus explained. Sometimes the 
slowly waning tide of life is a long time in reaching 
the point where fever begins, but the principle is the 
same. Causes and conditions vary, and hence the re- 
sults vary in intensity and in time, but the law is al- 
ways the same. Action followed by reaction, reaction 
followed again by action, till equilibrium is restored, or 
till death results. Differences in age, in sex, in temper- 
ament, in natural vitality, in inherited or acquired pre- 
disposition, differences in climate, in occupation, in 
modes of thought, in aims in life, and even more 
than all these, differences in the intensity of the will 
to live go far toward determining results, not only in 
life, but in all disturbances of function or vitality of 
tissues. Without a knowledge of these facts no ade- 
quate conception of the nature of man is possible. 
Even a knowledge of the essential nature of the soul 
such as no one in modern life possesses, would still be 
deficient if lacking a knowledge of the conditions 
under which the soul lives and acts in the human 
body, and in relation to its present environment, in a 
world of phenomena. 

The law of action may readily be determined ; the 
conditions and results of action are to be determined 
in each individual case, and in every moment of time. 



Human Life. 155 

These results of varied experience are precipitated in 
consciousness as in an alembic ; the original details of 
experience may be blotted out forever. None know, 
and none need care so long as we have still their full 
equivalent. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NEKVOUS SYSTEM. 

In a previous section reference was made to the 
principles of differentiation and the community of 
function in the evolution of organisms and of spe- 
cies. Through the operation of these principles it 
was shown how reserved areas arise that are not di- 
rectly involved in organic functions, and that these 
areas constitute co-ordinating centers preserving the 
harmony of the lower structures and functions, and 
destined to- still higher offices in the special economy 
of man. It was further pointed out that the com- 
plexity of an organ and its function is not a direct 
necessity of the function to he performed per se, but 
that such complexity is rendered necessary by the 
general complexity of the entire organism of which 
it forms a part. Only thus could equilibrium be es- 
established and harmony result. This complexity, in 
whole and in part, is evolved progressively from sim- 
ple forms in which the given function was still per- 
formed. Indeed the function must have existed po- 
tentially in the vivified germ, prior to all organs 
proper. 

Under the head of Physical Synthesis, Herbert 
Spencer has shown very clearly the process by which 
(156) 



The Nervous System. 157 

nervous tissue may arise by the successive passage of 
waves of motion through a mass of colloids. These 
waves pursue a definite direction following the line of 
least resistance. Each successive wave of motion 
meets with less and less resistance, and hence a larger 
amount of energy is continually transmitted through 
the line of colloids. The polarized colloids are thus 
progressively wheeled into line of polar arrange- 
ment. A considerable amount of energy is thus 
used in bringing this about ; but this amount is 
constantly becoming less and less as the amount 
of energy transmitted becomes greater, till at last 
a line of colloids is arranged in polar agreement ; 
resistance has ceased and the highest transmission of 
power is attained. If we conceive that polarity arises 
coincident with the development of tissue, and not 
after cells are formed, we shall realize that which un- 
doubtedly occurs as above illustrated. This principle 
of polar arrangement not only obtains in the devel- 
opment of the nerve fibers, in the building up of nerve 
tissue, but in all subsequent transmission of the nerve 
impulse after birth, whereby we gain facility in mus- 
cular manipulation, and are enabled to cultivate the 
senses ; the process may be seen to be the same. Re- 
peated transmission overcomes resistance and in- 
creases the accumulative result. Hence the process 
by which tissue is formed and by which function 
originates, is that also by which it is afterward per- 
fected and exercised. The function per se builds the 



158 A Study of Man. 

tissue and the organ; the organ so built exercises 
the function. Living matter involves the peculiar 
function ; the function so involved evolves the tissue 
and the organ. The principle under consideration 
may be called the physical basis of education. 

The basic function of simple living matter is irri- 
tability. Living matter responds to an irritant and 
reacts upon all received impressions. It is sensitive 
in the same sense but in infinitely larger degree than 
the photographer's plate. Proteus quivers with life 
and mirrors all impressions. Organization fixes these 
impressions. Sensibility passes beyond mere sensi- 
tiveness by the addition of consciousness. Conscious- 
ness implies a center of life ; the universal with the 
added element of consciousness becomes individual. 
Simple living matter is an element of an organism, 
and is incapable of arising or existing separate from 
it. The establishment of a center of life, as in a germ, 
establishes the first requisite of separate existence. 

Diagrammatically the nervous mechanism is a series 
of cells and protoplasmic threads — polarities, whereby 
either directly or indirectly every living cell of the 
animal body is connected with every other cell, and 
every cell with the body as a whole. The nerve cen- 
ters, or ganglia, are mechanically the most wonderful 
devices simplifying the connection of all parts of the 
body with each other. Large masses of cells are in 
communication with a series of nerve fibers ; these 
nerve fibers unite in a common trunk; this trunk 



The Nervous system. 159 

communicates with a ganglion ; other masses of 
cells similarly related to nerves and to trunk com- 
municate with a ganglion, and the two ganglia are 
united by a commissure. In this manner the most 
distant masses of cells are in intimate association, 
thus securing a certain amount of relatively inde- 
pendent action, yet at the same time capable of joint 
and harmonious activity. This elaboration of the 
function of irritability through the nervous mechan- 
ism, whereby sensibility is developed in relation to 
consciousness, does not entirely withdraw the quality 
of sensitiveness from other tissues. Both living mat- 
ter and differentiated tissue other than nerve tissue 
transmit impressions, though in a vague and indeter- 
minate manner. When, however, such impressions 
reach the nerve tissue they are brought into definite 
relations to nerve centers and to consciousness. The 
first or diffused impressions concern quantity, the sec- 
ond concern quality. The basic impressions caused by 
heat and cold are very closely allied, and the effect of 
these on the vitality of a part, when extreme, are the 
same, producing disintegration and sloughing. The 
impressions produced by what we call pleasure and 
pain are also very similar. It requires both con- 
sciousness and a nervous system educated by experi- 
ence to distinguish between such opposite impressions, 
to say nothing of impressions more closely related. 
An organized nerve transmits impressions automatic- 
ally, and directly without lateral transmission. The 



160 A Study of Man. 

.ganglia separate, combine and register impressions. 
In the registry of impressions a similar process may 
be conceived as occurring as in the formation of nerve 
tracts, with, however, this difference : in case of 
nerve formation, polarization implies a direct line of 
discharge between two points. In the case of gan- 
glionic formation and function the impression returns 
to the point of beginning, or doubles on itself. These 
two forms of impressions and structures are related 
to each other as straight lines are related to circles. 
There is however a still further difference in regard 
to the fixation of forms. In the fiber the form is 
comparatively fixed, the tissue of the nerve proper is 
firm, smooth and glistening. The soft gray matter 
of the ganglia preserves more or less the spheroidal 
form and is therefore less permanently fixed, and ad- 
mits of frequent re-arrangement of molecules, and 
re-distribution of impressions. Hence registration of 
impressions by nerve centers is no more a final act, 
than is the direct transmission of impressions by nerve 
fibers. The registration of an impression, therefore, 
involves its transmission to the registering ganglion, 
as well as the whole series of changes by which it 
originates, and to which it gives rise. The physical 
basis of memory therefore can not be conceived as 
solely the gray matter of the nerve centers, nor can 
it be confined to the nervous system, nor to the en- 
tire physical body ; for these, in part and in whole, in 
every experience include consciousness as one term 



The Nervous System. 161 

of the equation. We could not be conceived as re- 
membering any thing of which we are entirely un- 
conscious. On the other hand, it is well to remember 
that the most painful or the most pleasurable experi- 
ence occurring with full consciousness, is not long re- 
tained ; and that the most of such experiences are in 
time forgotten. Only consciousness preserves their 
equivalence. 

The nervous mechanism may be diagrammatical! y 
represented by the nerve arc. This consists of a per- 
ipheral nerve cell, with an afferent nerve fiber, a cen- 
tral nerve cell with an efferent nerve fiber terminating 
in some of the active tissues. This typical form is 
the mechanical element by the multiplication of which 
the whole nervous structure is built. These are mul- 
tiplied and united to form nervous systems. 

The entire nervous mechanism divides in two por- 
tions, the ganglionic, called also the sympathetic, and 
the cerebro-spinal. These two portions are brought 
into direct relation through the ganglia at the roots 
of the spinal nerves. The sympathetic nervous sys- 
tem is directly related to all the structures and func- 
tions of organic life, and indirectly related to the 
senso-motor and intellectual functions. The cerebro- 
spinal nervous system is directly related to the senso- 
motor and intellectual functions, and indirectly re- 
lated to the functions of organic life. These two 
structures therefore supplement each other. The 
11 



162 A Study of Man. 

sympathetic system is in a general way a center of 
correlation of lower forms of energy into nervous 
force ; and the cerebro-spinal system is a co-ordinat- 
ing mechanism securing harmony and equilibrium of 
the entire organism. In this harmonious order of 
complex structures and diverse functions the cere- 
brum presides, and not only exercises final jurisdic- 
tion, co-ordinating all other centers, but is also the 
center of consciousness though by no means its ex- 
clusive seat. Every organized cell is a center of life ; 
every separate organ is relatively a center of con- 
sciousness; only the brain is the center of self-con- 
sciousness. It is, however, possible to change the 
center or seat of consciousness by concentration of 
the will and the exercise of the imagination and so to 
place it under other than the usual relations. 

We have spoken of the mechanism, the seat, and 
the center of consciousness, and of the transmission 
of impressions, as also of the registration of impres- 
sions through a re-distribution of matter and change 
in form of arrangement. All these are but the ele- 
ments through which the varied experiences of life 
reach consciousness in an orderly manner from the 
physical side of being. These different parts are defi- 
nitely related to the various elements of the phenom- 
enal world. All phenomena are expressed in terms 
of matter, force and motion, and occur in space and 
in time. Each of these has a representative sphere 
and mechanism in the body of man. The eye through 



The Nervous System. 163 

its mechanism and function is definitely related to 
space and form, and endows these with light and 
color. The ear is a time organ, taking cognizance of 
the succession of phenomena, but as there is a point 
where light and sound co-ordinate, and as they are 
definitely related by a common multiple in vibrations, 
the two organs, the eye and the ear, have supplement- 
ary functions. The sense of feeling is definitely re- 
lated to impact, or weight, and therefore, to matter 
and mass. In the motor apparatus, certain nerves and 
muscles are concerned with force and motion. None 
of these several parts, however, can be disassociated 
from its fellows, any more than we can separate space 
and time. The various avenues of the body through 
which sensations, perceptions and feelings reach con- 
sciousness are many, but consciousness is one. There 
is a provisional center for each group of impressions, 
and for each combination of muscles in the senso-mo- 
tor apparatus, yet all these provisional centers unite 
in the seat and center of consciousness, the cerebrum. 
It may thus be seen that consciousness is definitely 
related on the physical side to the phenomenal world 
through a complicated mechanism which is phenom- 
enal in structure and mode of action. Experience 
expands this relation and multiplies its details. 
These various terms concern the relations and mani- 
festations of consciousness, but they do not account 
for consciousness itself. It would be indeed foolish to 
indulge in any speculations as to the essential nature 



164 A Study of Man. 

of consciousness, when we have already acknowl- 
edged our entire ignorance of the essence of so ap- 
parently simple a thing as an atom of matter. The 
relations and manifestations of consciousness, how- 
ever, are very different things ; these are as legiti- 
mate subjects for study as are the combinations of 
matter and the manifestations of force. Conscious- 
ness is related on the one side to the physical body, 
evolved in space and time, and existing in terms of 
matter, force and motion. Consciousness on the 
other side is related to the ideal human form and 
quality, involved from the subjective world and ex- 
isting in the boundless ocean of ether. Conscious- 
ness unites and co-ordinates these two worlds, epito- 
mized in man, and represented in terms of experi- 
ence. The development of man through the inter- 
mediation of a center of life and consciousness, is 
therefore a building up of nature, and a building 
down of spirit. The bodily form is evolved out- 
wardly from the center, consciousness. The human 
type is involved toward the center, consciousness; 
and coincident with this process of evolution and in- 
volution the area of consciousness in the individual 
expands through a two-fold experience of the natural 
and spiritual worlds. Hence we derive an idea of the 
relations of individual consciousness to the two 
worlds of being. Motive may be conceived as giving 
color to all these varied experiences, and motive de- 
termines our relations to truth. Whenever con- 



The Nervous System. 165 

sciousness by its co-ordinate function in relation to 
the two worlds has thus created an individual king- 
dom in man that apprehends a degree of truth, that 
is, has created the two worlds to some extent in man, 
through experience of both, the varied colored mo- 
tives begin to disappear, and give place to the white 
light of truth. This illumination of consciousness is 
the dawn of conscience. In the presence of the 
light of truth, all other motives give way to the 
love of truth. The animal ego, the selfish motive 
recedes. The individual now does right not through 
fear of evil, nor from motives of personal gain, here 
or hereafter, but because truth is in him. There is 
consonant rhythm in his soul. He seeks truth, and 
truth seeks him by a law of attraction as direct and 
potent as that which draws the armature to the mag- 
net, or the needle to the pole. The germ from which 
man's bodily life is developed is first a vehicle capable 
of being endowed with a distinct personality, and so 
of becoming a separate center of life, and of unfold- 
ing higher powers. The act of impregnation fixes 
upon it the human likeness and sets the wheels of 
life in motion. Evolution and involution now begin, 
and development passes through the various lower 
forms on its way to man. At birth consciousness has 
developed a center, and a vehicle for a two-fold ex- 
perience, and the center, consciousness, begins to ex- 
pand into self-consciousness. By the time the child 
is weaned this development of self-consciousness is 



166 A Study of Man. 

well under way, and personal self-consciousness is 
complete about the seventh year. Then begins the 
struggle between Good and Evil. The illumination 
of consciousness, independent action from motive, 
first of fear and self-interest, and divine conscious- 
ness begin to dawn. True the child very early shows 
a perception of right and wrong but such perception 
is reflected from its surroundings, and not spontane- 
ous. It can be led to believe that it is right to lie and 
steal, or that it is right to pray and to do right. The 
child's early experience is taken second-hand from its 
parents or guardians. It must have liberty to choose, 
.to reject or to select, before it can feel responsibility, 
and discern motive. All these transitions are by im- 
perceptible gradations. Sometimes these changes 
come early in life, sometimes late, sometimes not at 
all. Many adults are deficient in moral responsibil- 
ity. The defects of birth are many. Heredity gives 
to personal bias an atmosphere of vice or virtue, in 
which motive and responsibility breathe and live. 
The individual however has to try all these by expe- 
rience. If the heredity is good it may have to be ad- 
justed to consciousness through experience. If the 
heredity is bad it has to be eliminated, and the good 
created. Many are thus freighted with double loads 
requiring a lifetime, nay perhaps many lives to get a 
fair start. Never till the will to live is subordinated 
to the will to do good, has the individual really begun 
to live at all in the higher or divine nature. 



The Nervous System. 167 

The physical brain belongs to the phenomenal life 
of man. The brain is the organ through which on 
the one side consciousness manifests outwardly ; and 
on the other side it is the medium through which 
all sensations and experiences of the outer world are 
presented to consciousness. 

In the objective world phenomena are wrought out 
on the basis of matter and force, and occur through 
motion. But beyond all this there are principles and 
laws by which nature builds, and certain forms or 
types to which she conforms. Strictly speaking man 
invents nothing; he has however discovered many 
things, and all his so-called inventions are but the ap- 
plication of his discoveries of principles and laws in 
nature to the conditions of the phenomenal world. 
These laws on the one side, and every possible appli- 
cation of them on the other, already exist in the labo- 
ratory of nature. The discovery of laws and the ap- 
plication of principles depend on the accuracy and 
faithfulness with which man observes and imitates 
nature. There can nowhere be found a mechanic, a 
chemist, or a builder like Dame Nature. It is after 
all the very simplicity of her handiwork that eludes 
us. Nature knows the secret of perpetual motion, 
but only as one member of an equation of which the 
other is eternal rest. In every snow-flake and crys- 
tal nature has squared the circle by absolute geome- 
try. Man has never yet been able to utilize more 
than a fraction of the force every- where diffused as 



168 A Study of Man. 

gravity, heat, light and magnetism. Nature's forms 
are pure geometry; her compounds are made with 
absolute exactness ; her revolutions are in obedience 
to immutable laws. Nature alone possesses the secret 
of the unit of form, the unit of mass, the unit of 
force, the unit of space, and the unit of time ; and 
she alone knows their common multiple. When 
man has wrested these secrets from nature then 
will he indeed be a master-builder. If there is a 
structure in nature in which all these principles are 
involved it is the human brain. These principles are 
represented in, reflected upon, and may be appre- 
hended by the human brain through consciousness. 
But in order that man may apprehend these prin- 
ciples, the brain must be perfect and consciousness 
complete. In other words, the structure and func- 
tion .of the brain must reflect the ideal counter- 
part of the divine man, and consciousness must epit- 
omize the two as one. If now we designate these 
powers and principles by which nature builds as ideas, 
thought is their approximate reflection or representa- 
tion, their partial duplication. What we call human 
ideas, are at best but grotesque and distorted carica- 
tures of divine ideas. Our ideas are imperfect, con- 
tradictory, and therefore unstable, like shadows cast 
by a flickering light upon an ever-varying surface 
that exists only by virtue of unceasing change. 
Thought is the evanescent picture, the moving pan- 
orama thus produced and presented to a poly-colored 



The Nervous System. 169 

consciousness from the nature side of life. Thought 
is therefore phenomenal like sensation. If we try to 
control and detain thought, if we endeavor to fix the 
attention on any one point or on any one thing we 
shall realize that it is indeed phenomenal in charac- 
ter. In the very act of controlling it, when success- 
ful, we have ceased to think; consciousness has 
withdrawn to the subjective side of being. Our 
thoughts come and go and come again, even against 
our will, they are never twice the same for a single 
instant, something is lacking, something added, 
ceaseless change, diversity, instability, unreality. 
Such is thought. If the external world is thus rep- 
resented to consciousness, the internal world may 
also reach consciousness but not through the physical 
brain. By thought, generic principles and innate 
ideas are converted into form by the brain pictures, 
and thus are nature's laws embodied in a re-creative 
center. The apprehension of these laws and princi- 
ples in their relations and sequences is the reasoning 
faculty ; but this also involves consciousness. Log- 
ical thought differs from illogical thought as a perfect 
circle differs from an imperfect circle. Thought con- 
cerns sensations, ideas, relations and laws, in terms of 
matter, force, motion, space and time, and represents 
these to consciousness in terms of experience. Innate 
ideas are the perfect embodiment of a law of nature 
with its secondary principles. Our ideas are more or 
less approximate principles that dimly discern the 



170 A Study of Man. 

underlying law of nature. The laws of nature di- 
rectly relate to pure being beyond all conditions of 
space and time. Such principles as we discern in 
nature are the consensus of our varied and, necessa- 
rily, fragmentary experience, reproduced in thought, 
and precipitated in consciousness. These innate 
ideas, laws and principles are derived directly from 
the subjective world; they are embodied in the phe- 
nomenal world ; they reach consciousness in man in- 
directly through experience and bodily feeling, and 
such experience by a law of attraction furnishes the 
basis for direct apprehension from the subjective 
world. To apprehend a law of nature is to have em- 
bodied it in our own nature through experience. 
Hence are derived ideas, which are but reflections of 
innate ideas. Eternity is obscured by time, being be- 
clouded by existence, law producing phenomena, ever 
present principles lashed into flame by feeling. Man 
thus colors all he touches and creates an ideal world 
of his own which has elsewhere no existence, and 
bends every energy of his will to perpetuate the 
work of his imagination. Just in proportion as man 
stands ready to relinquish this selfish world of his 
imagination for the world of truth and reality, does 
he come into possession of his birthright in the real 
world of being. That which every- where stands in 
the way of this realization is man's ingrained selfish- 
ness, the habiliment of his personality derived from 
the animal world. 



The Nervous System. 171 

It may thus be seen that thought is the moving 
panorama of the physical brain, mirroring the world 
of phenomena. Intuition bears the same relation to 
consciousness on the spiritual side of being, that 
thought bears to the same consciousness on the ma- 
terial side of existence ; but intuition like thought 
can have no relation to consciousness except through 
experience. Consciousness stands as the common 
multiple of both thought and intuition ; for con- 
sciousness is the sole mediator in man between the 
natural and spiritual worlds == the bond of union that 
unites his phenomenal existence in space and time to 
his real being in the eternal world. Real knowledge 
is an exact equation between the world of phenom- 
ena and the world of being. The terms of this equa- 
tion are intellect and intuition with consciousness as 
the sign of equality. The result of this solution is 
man's ideal world, the basis of which is his experi- 
ence of the natural world of effects and the spiritual 
world of causes. In the genus homo man represents 
the intellect ; woman the intuition. Man reasons ; 
woman feels. Intuition in man represents the female 
element ; reason in woman represents the male ele- 
ment ; only the man-woman knows. 

Will is the sum of all individual energies, it is that 
by which he is enabled to focalize these energies on a 
given point. "Will is not mere stubbornness or con- 
trariness. Will wheels the faculties into line and 
subordinates all minor tendencies to one supreme 



172 A Study of Man. 

purpose. It is therefore the polarization of the en- 
tire being. This form of concentration of the will is 
true magic — not witchcraft, or sorcery, or necro- 
mancy, but the true Magus. It overcomes all ob- 
stacles and triumphs in the midst of apparent defeat, 
and thus accomplishes that which seems impossible. 
This exercise prolongs life, overcomes disease, and 
thus triumphs over even death itself. This exer- 
cise of the will is impossible so long as man is 
at war with nature or at war with himself, for he who 
exercises it must command his passions, appetites, 
faculties and infirmities, and must conquer even his 
environment, and apparent disabilities. It means 
first self-conquest, and secondly such a use of his sur- 
roundings as will make them tributary to success, 
where to others without such will, they mean defeat 
and disaster. This is true magic. The handmaid of 
such a will is imagination. To will thus, one must 
be able to conceive of that which is beyond the de- 
tails of his experience, but not beyond his intuitions, 
or the principles of his life. Will and imagination 
thus rise to the plane of genius. The individual thus 
endowed is a creator. The conceptions of his imag- 
ination, energized by his will, will prove more real 
and lasting than the things of sense and time. His 
temporal existence will involve from the world of be- 
ing, and evolve in knowledge and power. This is 
but the application of the same principle that has all 
along enabled us to apprehend the unfolding of man's 



The Nervous System. 173 

life on the various planes of existence. We see it 
here reaching toward higher planes and transcendent 
powers. To reach this plane requires a strong will, a 
vivid imagination, the subordination of all lower 
natures in man, and the inspiration derived from a 
divine or a diabolical purpose. Just here is the place 
where two ways meet, and man may become potent 
for good or evil. Motive now determines all. Either 
man will become a co-worker with God for the up- 
lifting of mankind, or an embodied evil for man's de- 
struction. The world has witnessed numerous exam- 
ples of both these types. Here again the motive 
turns on the principle of egotism or on that of altru- 
ism. The animal self of one's own personality is 
the humane all, through the divine individuality. 
The Holy Inquisition and the French Eevolution il- 
lustrate the possibility of incarnate evil; while the 
list of martyrs rejoicing amid flames, and the unsung 
heroes and heroines of the cause of truth and right- 
eousness, abundantly prove the possibility of the 
soul's triumph over all its foes. The servants of evil 
and the servants of truth have often thus stood face 
to face in the world's history, yet few historians have 
adequately comprehended the meaning of the situa- 
tion or the elements involved, because they have writ- 
ten from the planes of self-interest. The glimpses 
thus revealed of human nature at white heat go to 
its very foundations, and he who seeks to know him- 
self may thus learn from human kind. 



174 A Study of Man. 

There has been very great progress in recent times, 
particularly among western nations, in intellectual 
life and scientific discovery. Two causes have more 
than others contributed to this result : namely, the 
discovery and advancement of the art of printing, 
and the inductive method introduced by Sir Francis 
Bacon. Nothing can be gained, however, by deceiv- 
ing ourselves as to the {rue character of this progress 
arid its bearings on the real interests of man. These 
discoveries it is true have multiplied our resources 
and increased our power over nature, but they have 
in equal measure multiplied our wants. Necessities 
have given place to luxuries and natural modes of liv- 
ing to artificiality. In the meantime the religious 
life of the people has been on the wane, and a puri- 
tanical consciousness has been replaced by a wide- 
spread covetousness. The race for riches and the 
lust for political power are fast trampling out the last 
vestiges of religious obligation. It is true that much 
of the former religious sentiment was often but an- 
other name for superstition, and that in many cases 
this has given place to enlightenment and reason ; 
but the whole tendency of the times is to do away 
with all sacred things except perhaps human life and 
the rights of property ; but even here our boasted civ- 
ilization has generated another class by no means 
small or insignificant with whom the rights of person 
and property are by no means divine rights, but are 
held as subservient to so-called communism. In a 



The Nervous System. 175 

certain sense, this voice of communism is a blind 
feeling after the humane principle of altruism, engen- 
dered by helplessness and envy and set on fire by the 
very material power and prosperity to which we have 
referred. Here again is good and evil face to face ; 
not as heretofore embodied in individuals, but as rep- 
resented by classes. Neither class is altogether good, 
nor altogether evil, but each represents a principle. 
The evil principle of selfish egotism is apparently 
triumphant, hence its complacence in the face of the 
gathering storm. Society is thus at war with itself. 
Capital and labor, the head and the hands of the body 
politic are thus in hostile array. The balance of power 
is really though unconsciously with labor, and it will 
be a sad day for humanity when the beast in the great 
unwashed, unfed masses realizes its power and organ- 
izes its strength. This terrible realization has been 
thus far prevented by the humane spirit which has 
found lodgment and large exercise in the middle class 
who are neither rich nor poor and who are as a rule 
better read and more charitably inclined than any 
other class. This middle class include the great bulk 
of the learned professions, those who mingle inti- 
mately with men and women, and who therefore 
know more of humanity as it is than any other, 
for this class are taught by that all-potent instructor, 
human sympathy. To these must be added arti- 
sans and the more intelligent and better paid la- 
borers, both men and women. Here is the balance 
of power, but for which anarchy and desolation 



176 A Study of Man. 

would long ago have come to reign. This class know 
and exercise their power continually. They are fore- 
most in all good works. Drawing their philosophy of 
life from broad experience, possessed by a humane im- 
pulse, this class are the somewhat blind agents of the 
divine principle of altruism. Clinging to the ancient 
traditions in the face of intellectual doubt and denial, 
a contradiction to themselves, they nevertheless feel 
blindly after the truth and serve it with willing hands. 
It is indeed true that among the more fortunate few 
there are many noble exceptions, and the notable in- 
crease of large bequests for purposes of charitable re- 
lief, and for educational purposes is an encouraging 
sign of the times. Yet in the face of all this, the 
spectacle of a single individual holding in his grasp a 
hundred millions of money, and of corporations, and 
trusts, which are able to control legislation and to 
dictate the terms of trade, the price of food, as well 
as the compensation for labor, keeps alive the hatred 
and envy of the starving masses, improvident as they 
are, and unreasoning as they are likely to remain. 
Communism will not cure this wide-spread disease of 
our boasted civilization, but the spirit of altruism 
will. Nothing but this spirit in the middle class has 
been able to hold the disease in abeyance. If the 
wealth of the world were equally divided among its 
inhabitants to-day there would arise to-morrow the 
distinction of rich and poor, as well as the classes of 
capital and labor. The divine spirit of altruism lays 



The Nervous System. 177 

a heavy hand on greed, and at the same time extends 
a helping hand to the needy and the ignorant, and 
even to the slothful and improvident. In the light 
of a divine humanity the greedy no less than the 
needy will be benefited by this touch of sympathy, 
that makes the whole world akin. The suffering of 
poverty may be without crime and is often without 
envy — not so the embodiment of greed and all un- 
charitableness. I would plead for these rather than 
for the hungry poor ; they are more to be pitied here 
and now, than any for mere poverty's sake ; and the 
fact that they do not realize their crime only shows 
how deeply their higher nature has become obscured 
and degraded. Prosperity often tries the soul of man 
far more severely than adversity. Opportunities to 
do good employed for purposes of selfish pride and 
lust of gain can have but one effect, namely, to de- 
grade and brutalize. On the other hand, adversity is 
often the alembic that brings out the pure gold of a 
more noble manhood and womanhood. These are 
problems that no man can afford to disregard. These 
principles lie at the very foundation of human nature, 
and they can not be ignored without annulling the 
very foundations of life itself, and setting at naught 
any rational meaning or possible benefit of indi- 
vidual life on earth. If human life has no higher 
meaning than animal greed and the survival of the 
fittest on the plane of the senses, then indeed is man 
12 



178 A Study of Man. 

like the beasts that perish. His god is his selfishness 
and he had better curse it and die ! 

To return now from the body politic to the human 
body, it has been elsewhere shown that the building 
up of a complex tissue from simple living matter oc- 
curs through a process of polarization, tending thus 
to a fixation of form and definite waves of motion, 
with ebb and flow of the tide of life from surface to 
center, and from center to surface. It was also shown 
how the center of life thus posited becomes also a 
center of consciousness. This universal tendency to 
polarization presupposes a universal substance, mag- 
netism, lying back of all forms and beneath all mat- 
ter. Progressive differentiation of living substance 
tending to the fixation of form is from first to last a 
necrosis, or progressive death of living matter. Thus 
that relative fixation of form with definite function, 
called muscle, nerve, gland and the like, slowly but 
surely destroys that mobility and irritability of living 
matter which specially characterizes unformed proto- 
plasm. Molecular death is therefore the concomi- 
tant of life. The endowment of life as a fixed condi- 
tion belongs to no matter. Progressive endowment 
of life and progressive death — matter becoming alive, 
and matter becoming dead — are the conditions of all 
material substances constituting the animal body or 
the human form. Here may be seen the principle of 
death and of rejuvenescence pertaining to the tissues 
as to the entire body and life of man. In this process 



The Nervous System. 179 

of transformation whereby protoplasm takes on the 
form and function of tissue and organ there is a re- 
served quantity at any given time of matter endowed 
with life not thus transformed. This enables the in- 
dividual to undergo long fasts, and to endure wasting 
diseases and still recuperate. This reserve of living 
matter is moreover greatly fortified by the presence 
of fatty substances rich in carbon, by the oxidation 
of which the temperature of the body is maintained. 
This living matter is found in large quantities float- 
ing in the blood-vessels and in the lymphatics in 
which it is specially elaborated. All problems of nu- 
trition relate directly to the formation of these living 
colloids and their transformation into tissue in the 
process of growth and repair. In youth the surplus 
of living matter is large and its transformation rapid. 
In old age the quantity is relatively small and its 
transformation slow. In age the form of the tissues 
has become more fixed; the contour of the body is 
more angular ; polarization pushes the entire bodily 
organism toward crystallization. The bodily juices 
dry up, mobility gradually ceases within and without, 
and molecular death merges into corporeal death, and 
the matter of life removes to the lower plane of 
chemism and decomposition. 

If now we consider the untransformed living mat- 
ter of the body en masse , the colloids floating in the 
blood-vessels, lymphatics, and the nuclei of all tissue 
cells, we shall get the idea of a colloidal body of liv- 



180 A Study of Man. 

ing matter, within the body of tissues and organs. 
We have frequently referred to the impressibility of 
the individual colloids of living matter, their sensi- 
tiveness to all impressions and their readiness to take 
on specific forms, and the ease with which they are* 
transformed into tissues having relatively fixed forms. 
This aggregation of living colloids extending through- 
out the physical or tissue-body, and anchored in the 
very center of every microscopic tissue cell, is the only 
substance to which life directly adheres, and may be 
conceived as the animal soul, the pure psychic body, 
the vehicle of sense. This psychic body anchored 
thus in the center of every living cell constitutes an 
almost innumerable series of centers of life, domi- 
nated by the larger polarities of the body, which po- 
larities are maintained by the circulation of the blood, 
the circulation being maintained by respiration. 
"Withdraw from any tissue cell the nucleus of living 
matter and the cell dies. Whenever the body as a 
whole dies, the life departs from the psychic body, 
but the tissues preserve their form for a considerable 
time, and the form of the tissues may be artificially 
preserved for a long time, though every vestige of 
their function in life departs at death. Even the arti- 
ficial contraction of muscle under galvanic stimula- 
tion is no more than an illustration of a mechanical 
principle, and a demonstration at best of the princi- 
ple of magnetic polarization so potent in life. This 
colloidal psychic body is thus seen as the physical and 



The Nervous System. • 181 

no less as the vital basis of all organisms, the very 
web and woof of life, but it can ■ not of itself deter- 
mine any bodily form or function. These are im- 
pressed upon it from without, or evolved from within. 
We must not overlook the fact that the first changes in 
embryonic life begin with this same proteus ; nor that 
the germ, the fertilization of which is the beginning 
of development, in positing a center of life, contains 
a nucleus of protoplasm. We must also remember 
that the earliest manifestation of a developing life 
center is its power to transform and replenish its store 
of protoplasm. In a previous section it has been 
shown that proteus, with its magnetic endowment, or 
tendency to polarization, lies nearest the ether, and 
that it readily qualifies in all outward forms of life. 
The colloidal body then is most directly related to the 
subjective world. It is that substance which most di- 
rectly receives all impressions coming from the un- 
seen world of causes and ideal forms. If this psychic 
or colloidal body may be thus imagined to act as a 
whole and to receive impressions as any nerve center 
or sensory area receives them, such impressions have 
only to be transmitted to consciousness in order to 
constitute a valid experience. Let us call this func- 
tion the psychic sense, or direct physico-magnetic im- 
pression. All these terms are often used, and in a 
very illogical and contradictory manner, without any 
attempt to locate or define them. This psychic body 
is not the human soul, but the vehicle of the soul, as 



182 A Study of Man. 

the tissue-body is the vehicle of the psychic body. 
We are dealing with material substances and psychic 
forces, and for the present leaving out of account that 
great central fact consciousness, and its next develop- 
ment, self-consciousness, and the relations of these to 
all physiological and psychological activity. The 
psychic body bears as definite relations to conscious- 
ness in all its forms and degrees on the subjective side 
of being, as does the tissue-body on the objective side ; 
for consciousness stands in the center of these two 
worlds as represented in man. The psychic body is 
the reservoir of magnetic power in man. This reser- 
voir has a definite center of its own. This center is 
manifested as sex. The great solar plexus may be 
called the sympathetic brain of the psychic body, for- 
tified by the heart and lungs. So far as the physical 
elements and forces of creative power in man are con- 
cerned they are thus located and centered. These 
furnish the elements of life, but they do not give it 
ideal form and central endowment. These endow- 
ments are subjective, and are involved from higher 
planes. Sensibility and diffused consciousness belong 
to the psychic body. It is the vehicle of desire, ap- 
petite, lust and passion. Even the lower animals pos- 
sess in addition to the psychic body a center of life 
and consciousness, as they are rudimentary-human. 
Man possesses self-consciousness as he is rudimentary- 
divine. We have already shown how as life pro- 
gresses in concrete degrees, the higher nature over- 



The Nervous System. 183 

tops the lower, and the lower nature still adheres in 
the higher in the endless chain of existence. 

If now we seek illustrations of the psychic sense 
we are overwhelmed with the magnitude and number 
of such illustrations. They include the whole body 
of facts in animal magnetism, taking into account the 
abeyance and dominance of will, and the shifting of 
consciousness. Cerebral unconsciousness, even when 
memory is blotted out as by chloroform, leaves 
the sex-center of the psychic body wide awake and 
often abnormally active. So also deep sleep that 
blots out all outward consciousness leaves the psy- 
chic center unaffected, and still active. The whole 
record of experiments in hypnotism is directly re- 
lated to the psychic body, and even here memory 
may be impressed independent of ordinary conscious- 
ness. The psychic body has a memory and con- 
sciousness of its own relatively independent of the 
brain and self-consciousness. On the other hand the 
phenomena of clairvoyance and clair- audience which 
include consciousness and are related to the subject- 
ive world, are also related to the psychic body and its 
functions. The bodily avenues of sense are well de- 
fined and impressions from the outer world reach 
consciousness through these, but in rare instances 
where these bodily avenues are wanting or obstructed 
there is indisputable evidence that impressions from 
the outer world reach consciousness through other 
channels. The psychic body as the avenue for sub- 



184 A Study of Man. 

jective impressions now acts also in conveying ob- 
jective impressions to the sensorium. Even as I 
write the case of little Helen Keller comes under my 
notice, through an article by Sallie Joy White in 
Wide Awake, March 1, 1887 : " Miss Sullivan began 
her duties as teacher to little Helen Keller, who, al- 
though blind, deaf and dumb, was destined, under 
her training, to become so great a wonder that scien- 
tific men from Europe as well as this country would 
study her as a real intellectual phenomenon. 

" Miss Sullivan found her pupil a bright, well- 
grown girl of nearly seven years of age, with a clear 
complexion, and pretty brown hair. She was quick 
and graceful, with a merry laugh, and fond of romp- 
ing with other children. You wonder, don't you, 
how she can run about and play? Well, she will 
play tag, and have as great a frolic about it as any 
child you ever saw. She feels the vibrations of the 
ground by her feet, and so knows just which way to 
go, and what to avoid. Indeed, her sense of move- 
ment is acute, and she tells often about going to 
church ' to hear the organ play.' She knows when it 
is being played, in the same way that she can tell 
which way to run in the game of tag. The floor vi- 
brates and thus conveys to her the knowledge of what 
is being done. It can not be possible that she gets 
any real idea of sound in this way, although she must 
get the rhythmic flow of the music. How much she 
is able to realize of its beauty and harmony we never 



The Nervous System. 185 

will know, but there must be some charm about it, 
for she is fond of it. 

" Would you think that without the ability to hear 
the music or to see the steps, she could learn to 
dance? It doesn't seem possible, does it? And yet 
she has learned the art ; she was taught by one of her 
little companions. She likes always to do what the 
other children do, and as they were dancing one day 
she wanted to join them. The little friend took her 
hand and tried to make her keep time with her in the 
step; but she could not manage it. Suddenly, as 
swift as thought, for, with this wonderful child to 
think and to act are simultaneous, she slid to the 
floor, and motioning the little girl to go on with her 
dancing, she felt the motion of her feet and the bend- 
ing of the knee. In a moment she was on her feet 
again, dancing merrily ; she had caught the spirit of 
the motion through her little fingers. And now 
dancing is her favorite diversion. 

" It is doubtful whether any one in possession of 
eyesight and hearing can arrive at little Helen's 
acuteness of touch and sensitiveness to motion. We 
depend on our eyes and ears and do not call our other 
senses into full activity, and these other senses will 
best be studied in persons like little Helen Keller. 
She can distinguish between puppies of the same lit- 
ter ; and since she has been taught to spell, she will 
spell the name of each one as soon as she touches 
him. Her sense of smell is so keen that she will rec- 



186 A Study of Man. 

ognize different roses by their fragrance, and by tbe 
same sense she can separate her own clothes from 
those which belong to others. She knows if any one 
near her is sad. Seldom will physical pain make her 
cry, but she will discover quickly if a friend is hurt, 
or ill, or grieved by her conduct, and this knowledge 
will make her weep bitterly. 

" Mr. Anagnos says that her wonderful faculties 
are matters beyond us. The ideas of death and 
burial had never been communicated to her; but, 
when taken into a cemetery on account of some 
beautiful flowers there, she grew pale and grave, 
and put her little hands upon her teacher's eyes and 
her mother's, and spelled out i cry, cry,' and her own 
eyes filled with tears. 

" Her teacher says that one day when her brother 
was coming toward them as they were walking, 
Helen knew it, spelled his name repeatedly, and 
started in the right direction to meet him. She 
gives the names of people she meets walking or rid- 
ing as soon as their presence is recognized. Often 
when she is about to make known some plan the 
child will anticipate her and spell out the plan about 
to be unfolded. Whether this be the action of some 
sharpened sense already known to us and named, or 
the awaking and working of some sense not under- 
stood, it is at least an interesting matter for study." 

Such cases are by no means uncommon though the 
principle under consideration is in the case of Helen 



The Nervous System. 187 

Keller illustrated in an unusual degree. To this class 
belong the Seeress of Prevorst, Heinrich Yung- Still- 
ing the friend of Goethe, the Drummer Boy of Ted- 
worth, Angelique Cottin, Mollie Fancher of Brook- 
lyn, and thousands of others, all differing in de- 
tail of manifestation but not in general principle, thus 
demonstrating the existence of the psychic sense. It 
is through this psychic sense that animals are ena- 
bled to follow a trail, and the same power has been 
witnessed in certain human beings, thus showing it 
to partake of physical qualities capable of transmis- 
sion to both animate and inanimate objects. Invisi- 
ble emanations preserving the distinct personal attri- 
butes, are thus associated with the psychic sense, help- 
ing to constitute the psychic body. This psychic 
body, composed of living matter, anchored in the cen- 
ter of every tissue cell of the human body, and ex- 
tending thus to every organ and to the utmost bounds 
of the physical structure, is the medium between the 
physical structure and the subjective world of ideal 
forms and all-pervading principles. In the ovum the 
nucleus of living matter receives the impress of the 
human likeness, and the potential center of life thus 
posited begins to involve the human form, as it 
evolves the physical body. The developing germ 
now passes rapidly and in succession over the va- 
rious planes of life, marked in the outer world as 
distinct species. These planes are specially marked 
by the well-known stages of nutrition, as cell- 



188 A Study of Man. 

nutrition, tuft-nutrition, placental nutrition, and 
finally as mammal nutrition. All this has been re- 
ferred to in other connections. Here "may be noted 
the broader relations at which we have arrived. The 
severance of the cord at birth marks the end of pla- 
cental nutrition,, and the wonderful changes in the 
circulation of the blood that then occur, and the in- 
dependent respiratory process that then begins, mark 
an important era in the individual life. The human 
being rises at once to a higher plane of life. A very 
careful study of these changes and the just apprehen- 
sion of their relation to each other and to conscious 
life will go far toward explaining that great subse- 
quent change called death. The physical body there- 
after decomposes as does the placenta. The incom- 
ing and outgoing tide of air is cut off, as effectually 
as is the tide of blood in the umbilical cord. If even 
as great a change occurs in the latter case as in the 
former, the vehicle of consciousness shifting now to 
the subjective plane enters on a new life, as definitely 
related to the respiratory life, as that was to the pla- 
cental, and as directly to be inferred from the pre- 
ceding respiratory, as that from the placental. The 
law of analogy is here the great interpreter, discern- 
ing from the present both that which has been and 
that which will be. Consciousness is posited as a 
center in the center of life of the germ. To this cen- 
ter of life endowed with the fact of consciousness, 
and impressed with the human form or idea, the 



The Nervous System. 189 

waves of involving or evolving force come and go as 
to a focus. All experience, that is all sensation and 
feeling, all motor impressions, the consensus of all 
bodily changes, are thus focused upon the conscious 
center of life. This center therefore expands, its 
channels deepen, as it epitomizes the whole of the 
unfolding life. The embryo when completely devel- 
oped is dissevered from its matrix and finally stands 
alone — a living conscious, self-centered organism, be- 
longing equally as to fact but not in degree, to two 
worlds, the natural and the spiritual, the objective 
and the subjective. The object is not here to estab- 
lish or maintain the existence of the human soul, for 
that must remain with every individual a matter of 
consciousness to be demonstrated by experience. 
The object is rather to show the real nature of man 
as he is, proceeding from a physico-vital plane, and 
suggesting certain coherent lines of investigation, and 
certain logical analogies that necessarily arise in our 
pursuit of truth. It is true that these methods point 
in the opposite direction from spiritual nihilism, and 
necessitate further analogies, but these may justly be 
left to each individual to determine for himself. 
What is most urgently needed is a better knowledge 
of man as he is, here and now, in order that he may 
make the very highest and best use of present oppor- 
tunities. Other-worldliness often leads to the neglect 
of these opportunities equally with worldliness. If 
men and women could be made to realize that they 



190 A Study of Man. 

are here and now living in both the natural and the 
spiritual worlds, and if they can be made to see that 
through conscious experience they may determine 
their own position in the scale of being and the help- 
fulness that they may extend to others, the efficiency 
of human life will be largely increased. The present 
object is therefore to point out these possibilities and 
to suggest methods by which they may be realized. 
To most persons interested in these studies science is 
discouraging, philosophy bewildering, and theology 
mystifying, and if they find belief no longer satisfy- 
ing, the result is to disarm the individual of that real 
zest in life that comes only from a well-defined pur- 
pose enthusiastically pursued. For lack of this zest 
in life, apathy settles upon the soul like mildew upon 
matter, and eats out its crowning glory. A melan- 
choly pessimist, or a scoffing materialist, is the result 
— conditions less desirable because more demoraliz- 
ing than blind faith or even ignorant superstition. 
These habits of thought are not readily broken up. 
The mind may become dissipated and demoralized 
through vicious habits of thought, just as the body 
does through vicious habits of life. In fact there is 
no separating body and mind in this regard. The 
law of habit equally governs as it underlies both body 
and mind. We have already shown that all trans- 
mission of energy in a definite direction tends to the 
fixation of form, and again that all fixation of form 
pre- determines the mode of transmission and the form 



The Nervous System. 191 

of energy. All living matter and all living tissue both 
possess and transmit energy. The transmission of 
energy follows the line of least resistance ; that is, it 
goes most readily where it has gone before. The ul- 
timatum is the fixation of specific form, and the 
transmission of energy — waves of motion — without 
resistance. The brain is a compound registering 
ganglion. As age advances registration gradually 
ceases, and transmission of energy under acquired 
habit or fixed forms only remains. The physical 
basis of memory thus finally obliterates memory 
itself, for as the cerebral habit becomes fixed and pre- 
cludes all further impression, progressive molecular 
death, or natural decay obliterates earlier impressions, 
till finally only the essence of impressions remains as 
precipitated by experience in consciousness. Finally 
even consciousness wanes and gives place to senile 
imbecility. The senso-motor mechanism on the one 
side bears a definite relation to the psycho-mental on 
the other. All motions, sensations, feelings and 
thoughts are definitely related to psychic structure ; 
and any repetition of impulse in any of these lines of 
experience tends to diminish resistance, and to facili- 
tate very greatly a repetition of the similar impulse, 
or in other words, to establish the habit. The range 
of activities that may thus become automatic is very 
great. Acts performed at first with difficulty, with 
concentration of mind, and with energy of will, 
are not only finally performed without effort but are 



192 A Study of Man. 

performed unconsciously, and while the mind is con- 
centrated on other things. What may be called nat- 
ural organic volition is now supplemented by ac- 
quired or artificial volition. In the exercise of muscle, 
which up to a certain point promotes development, 
there is a definite relation between force and mass, 
between energy and resistance. In the more delicate 
muscular manipulations requiring a wide range of 
activities, differentiation still tends to automatism. 
Automatism is therefore directly related to differen- 
tiation, and inversely related to mass. The cessation 
of the process of differentiation is the fixation of 
habit. We have now derived the elements with 
which to determine the laws of habit in regard to 
mental processes. The building up of the brain 
structure and the exercise of its normal function 
have their root in the general principles of physiol- 
og}^. The form of tissue, the relations of parts, and 
the method of action are determined by the laws of 
mathematics, thus determining both symmetry and 
harmony. This complex structure, the human brain, 
like all other tissues, is in constant need of rejuvenes- 
cence, and hence both normal and abnormal forms are 
repeated and perpetuated. A normally-developed 
healthy brain has within itself, and through its nat- 
ural exercise, a power and perpetuity but little known 
and seldom seen. On the other hand, just as a bridge 
or building erected in disregard of the principles of 
mechanics — weight, tension and the strength of ma- 



The Nervous System. 193 

terial — contains within itself the elements of its own 
destruction beyond the encroachments of time and 
natural decay, and is liable to fall at any time by its 
own weight, or by a slight strain such as a well- con- 
structed edifice could bear with safety ; so it is with 
that vital mechanism, the human brain. Evil 
thoughts and all vicious mental states overcome re- 
sistance, and mold the structure till it repeats auto- 
matically the evil, as it repeats the good impulse. 
Every evil impulse thus repeated tends from the first to 
disharmony and to disease of the entire structure and 
finally results in ruin. It is physiologically true, that 
" the wages of sin is death." The law of habit has 
its root in the anatomy of the body, of which the 
brain is a part ; its motor power is in the physiology 
of nutrition and circulation ; its theater of activity is 
in the protean living matter ; the principle of its ac- 
tivity lies in polarization; its forms and relations 
are in the principles of mathematics, and the key to 
its interpretation is analogy. 

As we ascend from the general psychological plane 
toward the center of being we encounter two princi- 
ciples : namely, will and desire. Will is to the mind 
what vitality is to the body : namely, the sum of all 
its energy. Desire is the directing agency of mind 
and body, as appetite or hunger is the directing 
agency of the vital body. What we call motive, 
gives color to will, desire and appetite, as it relates 
13 



194 A Study of Man. 

all these to results, and to other individuals. Motive 
is therefore related to self-consciousness, the attribute 
of the reasoning mind. Consider, for example, that 
manifestation of desire known as lust. Desire 
through the imagination pictures to the mind, and 
through vitality inflames the blood in anticipation of 
the coveted enjoyment. The will is chained to vital- 
ity, self-consciousness is obscured, and mere psychic 
sense is centered in the sexual center of life. Thus 
the animal ego reigns supreme. With every repeti- 
tion of this allegiance to lust resistance decreases and 
the imagination revels in its new creation, till the 
habit of both mind and body conform to the animal 
ideal. Many persons fail to distinguish, between this 
passion and love. These two principles have not only 
nothing in common but they are the direct antipodes 
of each other. Lust seeks all for self, and mercilessly 
devours. Love is beneficent and seeks another's 
good. In seeking all for self, lust not only destroys 
its victims, and destroys itself, but destroys its pos- 
sessor. There is a road by which human beings may 
lose their humanity and descend, body and soul, to 
the plane of the brutes. Consciousness descends from 
the higher self, to the sex-center of the psychic body 
or animal soul, and our hospitals and insane asylums 
are filled with these victims of lust, where insanity, 
imbecility and drivelling idiocy protest in the name 
of humanity at the disregard of nature's plainest 
laws. Those who really know human nature through 



The Nervous System. 195 

any wide experience directed by sincere desire for the 
truth, know that upon a correct knowledge of the 
meaning of sex, and the true relations of the sexes, 
depend the happiness and well-being of the human 
race, more than upon any thing else in its present 
stage of development. And yet those who have 
learned the truth in these regards can not reveal it 
because of the predominance in the great bulk of 
humanity of the animal ego over the divinely human, 
the triumph of the selfish over the humane, of lust 
over love. The larger liberty and prophetic enfran- 
chisement of woman can only redeem the human race 
and lift even man himself into his divine birthright. 
The pure love nature is strong in every true woman, 
and she will thus render good for evil in measure alto- 
gether divine. Here lies the secret of happy homes, 
of healthy and healthful human beings, of divinely 
inspired human souls. Love is but another name for 
that spirit of altruism which rises above the animal 
plane, and enables human beings to conquer self, and 
give place to the divine. This is the one principle 
that in all its varied applications elevates man above 
the brute. Animal egotism has deluged the world 
with blood in the name of ambition, which is lust for 
power. Animal egotism has trampled down the finer 
sensibilities of the soul in its lust for fame. Animal 
egotism has filled the world with poverty and woe in 
its lust for gold ; and animal egotism has degraded 
woman in every age under the sacred name of love; 



196 A Study of Man. 

and the great mass of mankind have yet to learn this 
lesson : " He alone can truly possess the pleasure of 
love who has conquered the love of pleasure." 

One law underlies the entire nature of man ; it is 
the universal law of duality, and its final expression 
in human beings is sex in its highest and purest rela- 
tions, under the divine inspiration of love. Under 
this law the growth of altruism, where the lower pow- 
ers of man's nature are subordinated to the higher, 
tends to self-preservation, health, happiness and long 
life, and beyond all this it lays the foundation for the 
unfolding of still higher faculties in man, as well as for 
his final supreme enlightenment as a spiritual being 
evolved from the human plane. The disobedience of 
this higher law, where man's higher powers are sub- 
ordinated to the animal passions, inevitably tends to 
disease and death. We can not fail from these con- 
siderations to deduce a physical basis for a natural 
code of moral ethics, justified by every known prin- 
ciple of physiological science and fortified by the les- 
sons of experience. The human body and the laws 
of life thus contain a divine revelation in perfect ac- 
cord with that other revelation which declares that 
the "wages of sin are death," and that righteous- 
ness hath the gift of life forever more. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CONSCIOUSNESS. 

The terra incognita of modern physical science is 
consciousness. This fact is often realized, but instead 
of going seriously to work to study the relations and 
different states and conditions of consciousness, the 
foolish attempt is repeated again and again of trying 
to fit consciousness to phenomena as an attribute of 
matter. Whenever the changes arising in the condi- 
tions and manifestations of consciousness have been 
carefully noted and critically compared, such observa- 
tion and comparison have led to the conclusion that 
consciousness is the prime factor in all individual ex- 
perience, and by no means confined to the senso-mo- 
tor mechanism of the human brain. It is true that in 
one of its modes, consciousness bears a definite rela- 
tion to the brain and all mental processes that directly 
relate to the external world of phenomena. In mo- 
ments of so-called abstraction, when, as often occurs, 
the individual is in a deep study, the phenomenal 
world is largely shut off from consciousness ; the phys- 
ical senses are dormant, and in this condition the indi- 
vidual enters the border-land of an ideal world. All 
great artists, poets and painters who possess real 
genius thus derive their inspirations. These, how- 

(197) 



198 A Study of Man. 

ever, usually get but glimpses of the real world of 
ideal forms and all-pervading principles, yet enough 
oftentimes to immortalize their names. The bodily 
avenues between the external world and conscious- 
ness are many. Consciousness is one. Consciousness 
therefore is the vehicle of the ego. In its existence 
consciousness may be independent of all bodily sense 
or mental condition, though dependent on these for 
its external manifestation. Through these avenues 
and relations the conscious ego comes into definite re- 
lations to a phenomenal existence, to the things of 
sense and time ; and by analogy something may be 
inferred of the nature of consciousness from its out- 
ward manifestation. When once it is understood, 
however, that through its relations to the brain and 
sensory ganglia consciousness manifests in but one of 
numerous forms, analogies drawn from this one form 
alone will no longer be regarded as final, even where 
they are logically so drawn. Complete self-conscious- 
ness on any plane is impossible except where the 
higher faculties in man control the lower. Until this 
condition is achieved the ego can control neither the 
thoughts nor the acts of its complex environment. 
In other words, complete self-consciousness implies 
complete self-control. The individual is then enabled 
to concentrate the mind upon a given object and to 
exclude all others. Whenever this condition is fairly 
approximated the individual has already learned that 
there are other states of consciousness, and can begin 



Consciousness. 199 

to enter them at will. The range of individual ex- 
perience which has elsewhere been shown to be the 
basis of all knowledge, is thus broadened immensely, 
and even the nature and value of ordinary experience 
on the physical plane can now for the first time be 
estimated, because it is brought into relations of com- 
parison with experience on other planes. It may 
thus be seen how important is the relation that con- 
sciousness bears to the bodily mechanism, and how 
unwise it is to mistake the varying mental states oc- 
curring under one form of consciousness for the vari- 
ation in the modes of consciousness itself, with some 
of which the mind, as a function of the physical 
brain, has little if any thing to do. It has more than 
once been shown in these pages that consciousness is 
not only the central fact in man, but that it is thus 
the medium between the objective and subjective 
worlds. If this be true, then consciousness is on one 
side related to the universal ether from which pro- 
ceed all ideal forms, and in which are precipitated 
all created things, the essence of these thus returning 
to the original source whence they emanated. New- 
ton's phrase, Sensorium Dei, the organ of divine con- 
sciousness, as applied to the ether thus becomes in- 
telligible. The importance of the conception that 
consciousness on the one side is as definitely and as nat- 
urally related to this " organ of divine consciousness," 
as on the other side it is related to the things of sense 
and time, can not be overlooked ; for such a concept 



200 A Study of Man. 

goes far toward explaining the nature of man and 
his true relations to existence. There is nothing 
more remarkable in the conceptions of man to-day 
than the fact that he generally supposes that his life 
proceeds outwardly only, on the physical plane, and 
that his thoughts and reflections concern only those 
outward experiences. It is as though man stood with 
his back to a blank wall and his whole nature and life 
proceeded thence in one direction. True it is that he 
recognizes vague thoughts and intense longings re- 
garding the beyond, and his imagination pictures the 
habitations of the blessed with palm trees and crys- 
tal streams flowing from delectable mountains, but 
these are but reflections of earth-life divested of sor- 
row and pain and yet conditioned in sense and time. 
When once it is clearly seen that the brain and the 
whole process of thought together with the avenues 
of sense are the relations of consciousness to the 
outer world alone, and that not thought, but con- 
sciousness is the prime factor in individual life, then 
the blank wall disappears, and the undiscovered 
country looms up before us, obscured by clouds and 
mists, but no longer an undiscovered world, though 
still unexplored. If instead of jumping the gulf be- 
tween the present and the future, and discussing the 
immortality of the soul, man would carefully consider 
the question as to whether he has a soul, and its nat- 
ure and conditions here and now, a great step would 
be gained, not only in knowledge of the soul but as 



Consciousness. 201 

to the conditions of its growth and enlightenment. 
This knowledge will dawn upon the human under- 
standing just in proportion as man is enabled to ap- 
prehend the relations and manifestations of conscious- 
ness. Whenever it is clearly recognized that all our 
knowledge comes by experience, and whenever the 
relations of the external world through these experi- 
ences are clearly discerned, it will also be discovered 
that we are conscious of experiences beyond the phe- 
nomenal world of sense and time, and independent of 
the sensory ganglia and the thinking brain. This 
line of investigation will render clearly apprehensible 
the existence of a supra-sensible or subjective world 
of being. Judging then by the nature and relations, 
rather than by the extent of our subjective experi- 
ences, we shall be able logically to arrive at the fur- 
ther conclusion, that from the very nature of things 
this subjective world is the very counterpart of the 
objective world of sense and time. We shall next be 
able to locate consciousness as related to these two 
worlds, and thus to locate our two sets of experiences, 
and to make one set a test of the other through the 
laws of analogy and correspondence. By this time 
we shall have discovered that we have actually begun 
the exploration of the undiscovered realm, and placed 
it beyond the possibility of time and sense to recon- 
struct for us the old stone wall at our backs. Man 
* may thus begin to know himself. Suppose that it be 
assumed that man has an immortal soul that still 



202 A Study of Man. 

lives beyond the bounds of time ; that indeed is not 
the all-important question. Suppose that the soul 
lives hereafter, but that memory is blotted out and 
that we have there no recollection of any thing that 
occurred to us here. This would practically be anni- 
hilation. The old ego in its new form would be 
for us a new creation, and we would be blotted 
out. It is a matter of common experience that mem- 
ory fails us. The events of yesterday not only are 
forgotten to-day, but there comes a time in the en- 
croachment of age when all records of past events 
are blotted out, and when new impressions are well- 
nigh impossible. Consciousness, and not memory is 
the human factor that remains, even in the face of 
senile imbecility. Again admitting the continuance 
of the individual soul beyond the gates of death, the 
prime question is : "Will it preserve self-consciousness ? 
Suppose now that we have discovered the fact of con- 
sciousness on the subjective plane while in this pres- 
ent life, and while inhabiting a physical body. If we 
have clearly apprehended the fact that consciousness 
is the immediate vehicle of the individual ego, and 
that thought is only the channel of communication 
between consciousness and the external world, and if 
we have discovered that consciousness depends on 
thought, and brain, and sense, and muscle, for its ex- 
ternal manifestation but not for its existence, we are 
already in the way of determining both the fact and- 
the conditions of manifestation of another form of 



Consciousness. 203 

consciousness from that of objective life. Putting the 
problem in this form the unknown is not necessarily 
the unknowable ; the undiscovered is not necessarily 
the undiscoverable. The measure of, man's existence 
on the earthly plane of life is determined by his ex- 
perience on that plane; but if the conscious center of 
man's life is posited at the center between two worlds 
and naturally open to both, then it follows that at 
any time the measure of his existence on the sub- 
jective plane is also determined by his experience on 
that plane. If the cycle of experience of the con- 
scious ego be rounded up by wide and co-ordinate ex- 
perience on both planes, consciousness may be imag- 
ined to grasp not only greater depths, but to approx- 
imate even the details of experience, and so to ap- 
proximate what we understand as memory. On the 
other hand, if one's experience here concerns almost 
exclusively the objective plane, if the life, of the in- 
dividual is immersed in sense, and anchored to self, 
thus ignoring divine altruism and the voice of the 
higher self, it must be seen to pertain to the things 
that perish, and which do not follow the ego after 
the death of the body to the subjective plane. If 
again we imagine the cycle of experience to be 
rounded up, the ego would be left in darkness, there 
could be no self-consciousness on the subjective plane, 
self-consciousness having displayed itself previously 
so largely in the things that no longer exist. If 
these analogies of consciousness be correctly drawn, 



204 A Study of Man. 

they serve to explain why, if the doctrine of re-incar- 
nation be true, no memory of past lives is retained 
by the ego after the lapse of ages and repeated incar- 
nations, the ego having shifted from plane to plane. 
The extent in which this doctrine of re-incarnation 
has been held in all ages down to the present time, 
and even by the fathers and later dignitaries of the 
Christian church is generally overlooked. We are 
at present, however, concerned only with the present 
life, and the logical analogies of present experience. 
These questions are in no sense transcendental, but 
are the most practical and sensible that the human 
mind can suggest, and more than all others concern 
the present life and the best interests of man. The 
doctrine of rewards and punishments is but a childish 
and superstitious view of the divine principle of jus- 
tice, that metes to every one according to the deeds 
done in the body, according to the thoughts of the 
mind, and the ideals that inspire the individual life. 
Justice is that silent but all-potent law, that veins the 
leaf and crystallizes the snow-flake by exact measure 
and perfect equilibrium. " The wicked obey the law 
through fear ; the wise keep the law through knowl- 
edge." One may be poor and despised by the world, 
without fame or power, yet if his soul be open to the 
voice of the needy and the cry of distress, if his life be 
unselfish and he be considerate toward others he is 
rich indeed. He may be indifferent as to either food 
or raiment, and yet be clean both within and without. 



Consciousness. 205 

He may have little to give, and yet be helpful and in- 
spiring, and blessings may follow his footsteps like 
his own shadow on a summer day. Such an one is 
in the world but not of it. He is conscious of the 
subjective plane of being and his experience extends 
to the other world even while in the body. The ego 
enthroned in his consciousness is lifted to serener 
heights, and for him there is no undiscovered clime. 
Of old it was written : " He that is dead to the world 
is alive to God." Nothing so bars the soul from the 
subjective world as selfishness. The thoroughly self- 
ish person is like a blind horse in a bark-mill ; his ex- 
perience and his vision are hedged about by his nar- 
row circle, and he wears continually the channels of 
self deeper at every round. This is not a mere mat- 
ter of sentiment nor is it merely a matter of religion 
which so many now-a-days treat with scorn ; it is a 
matter as directly determined by physiological law as 
is the beating of the heart, or the development and 
function of the brain. 

Individuals are born with widely different natural 
endowments. Education can not repair the defects 
of birth, but the determined effort of the will of the 
individual can not only repair these defects, but it 
can take advantage of every hereditary trait, whether 
good or bad, and transform it to use and beneficence. 
There are three conditions of consciousness in ordi- 
nary daily experience : that of ordinary wakeful- 
ness, that of dreamful sleep, and that of dreamless 



206 A Study of Man. 

sleep. We have already shown that not memory but 
consciousness is the all-potent factor in man. Con- 
sciousness as a fact returns to the individual, as well as 
memory, after deep sleep. Every one will admit that 
in sleep where dreams occur, consciousness is on a dif- 
ferent plane, or under different conditions from the 
waking state, and memory brings into the waking 
state the subject and the varied experiences of dreams. 
After dreamless sleep memory may hring nothing 
back from the subjective world, but it resumes the 
thread of life just where it was dropped before un- 
consciousness came on. JSFow what becomes of con- 
sciousness during dreamless slumber? Either it con- 
tinues or it does not. If it continues then it must 
simply be on another plane and under different con- 
ditions, at least so far as thought and memory are 
concerned, for the gap is between consciousness and 
memory in relation to thought. If on the other hand 
consciousness is blotted out and re-created every time 
we enter dreamless sleep, it could not be that both 
consciousness and memory, both new creations, at 
once take up the thread of life just where they drop- 
ped it, and resume the even tenor of their way 
as though nothing had happened. Nature never 
does things in that way. Her adjustments require 
time, her developments and all her varied rela- 
tions are slow growths. Both consciousness and 
memory have grown and expanded from the orig- 
inal germ. The true philosophy of ,dreams is then 



Consciousness. 207 

a problem in the conditions of consciousness, while 
we may fairly assume that consciousness still per- 
sists in dreamless sleep, though under changed 
conditions. Nothing is more common in ordinary 
life than the shifting of the planes of conscious- 
ness. Take for example the action of anaesthet- 
ics, chloroform changes the consciousness of the 
real' ego. The individual can not be called strictly 
unconscious. He is not conscious in the ordinary 
way. He suffers no pain, and retains no recollection 
of what occurs while under the influence of the an- 
aesthetic, but the organic consciousness remains un- 
disturbed. Muscular motion may occur but without 
co-ordination. The cerebrum, cerebellum and sen- 
sory ganglia are unconscious in dreamless sleep ; the 
medulla, spinal cord, solar-plexus and the sexual- 
area are wide awake and sometimes these are super- 
sensitive. The light of self-consciousness is with- 
drawn ; it is drawn within, but not quenched. In syn- 
cope consciousness is withdrawn ; but if one will watch 
carefully the first returning consciousness it will gen- 
erally be found that it has been by no means dead or 
idle, for by gently attracting the individual's atten- 
tion in the dawn of returning consciousness after a 
faint, it will be found that a few seconds have sufficed 
for the recovery of a long-forgotten experience, re- 
stored again from the all-surrounding, all-pervading 
ether. These few seconds of suspended animation 
are often sufficient for the weaving of a romance, or 



208 A Study of Man. 

for the enactment of a tragedy, and such experiences 
are not always fantastic and unreal, as experience and 
observation prove. But perhaps the common in- 
stances of somnambulism or sleep-walking offer the 
best demonstrations of double consciousness. Per- 
sons subject to these attacks really lead double lives. 
Individuals walking in their sleep have been known 
to appear among strangers, enter into conversation, 
and yet in the ordinary waking state retain no recol- 
lection of the events or persons. On the succeeding 
night however, walking again, the previous night's 
experience has been recovered and continued. Even 
one such case is sufficient to show a natural division 
in consciousness, and a gap occurring between them 
so far as memory is concerned. The experiments in 
magnetism, and more especially the recent hypnotic 
experiments give similar results. In many of these 
cases the knowledge possessed b}^ the individual in 
the subjective state altogether transcends that of ob- 
jective consciousness. Such persons have been 
known to diagnose correctly their own diseases and 
to determine the duration and termination of the 
same. Until a very recent date the majority of so- 
called scientists have shown a disposition to ignore or 
ridicule such cases, in spite of their overwhelming au- 
thenticity, and now when they seem inclined to inves- 
tigate these phenomena they learn that they are not 
produced at the will of the subject, nor do they readily 
come under the will of those who are entirely ignorant 



Consciousness. 209 

of the laws under which they occur. The wiser method 
is to ignore nothing that concerns human nature and 
to take advantage of every opportunity to investi- 
gate and particularly to examine unusual phenomena. 
In the delirium of fevers, and in the intoxication pro- 
duced by alcohol and various drugs, there is a shift- 
ing of the planes of consciousness and consequent 
aberration of memory. With the insane conscious- 
ness is permanently disturbed, and such cases are best 
studied as aberrations of consciousness. It may be 
doubted whether such a thing as unconscious cere- 
bration ever occurs, though there may be mental 
processes either above or below the plane of memory. 
To assign all mental aberrations to the imagination, 
as though thereby explained, is to mistake the office 
of both imagination and consciousness. In the deli- 
rium caused by opium and alcohol, consciousness is 
shifted to a subjective plane, and sometimes to a very 
*low plane. It is a great mistake to assume that the 
objects seen and the events that occur have no real 
existence. If all these are to be regarded as the cre- 
ations of the imagination, we are at a loss how to ex- 
plain the great uniformity of the objects witnessed 
from the effect of alcohol, for example. When we 
get any rational idea of the subjective world, we shall 
discover that the snakes and dragons seen there are 
as veritable on that plane, to subjective sense, as their 
living prototypes are on the phenomenal plane to 
14 



210 A Study of Man. 

objective sense, for it must be remembered that the 
universal ether is that infinite ocean whence all crea- 
tion proceeds, and into whose all-dissolving bosom all 
things return. Our relation to objects here is largely 
incidental, determined by location, circumstance and 
the like. On the subjective plane our relations are 
determined by attractions and intrinsic conditions, 
and an individual full of all evil passion, inflamed by 
alcohol, will attract entities of like degree, and so on 
to the end of the list. To say that all such cases re- 
sult from pure imagination is by no means to explain 
them. Many persons assume that when they have 
named a thing they have explained it, and that fur- 
ther questions are an impertinence. Perhaps the 
most important consideration in regard to the shifting 
states of consciousness from the objective to the sub- 
jective condition regards that vague and varying 
state known as insanity. As a rule with the insane 
this transfer of consciousness is partial, seldom com- 
plete. Consciousness is rather out of joint than actu- 
ally transferred from plane to plane. There is usu- 
ally an organic lesion, or a functional obstruction that 
tends to tissue change in some of the nerve centers. 
The result in many cases is to break down that sharp 
line of demarkation between the objective and sub- 
jective worlds. The individual becomes bewildered, 
loses his bearings ; his experiences are no longer co- 
ordinate. The instrument through which conscious- 
ness is manifested is out of tune, and the result is 



Consciousness. 211 

discord. In regard to these cases of perverted func- 
tion it is a mistake to think that no differentiation is 
made as to the planes or states of consciousness; 
practically but one state of consciousness is recog- 
nized. The further mistake is made of looking 
upon all objects cognized, and upon all experiences 
outside of the ordinary plane of consciousness, as al- 
together non-existent, that is, a figment of the imag- 
ination. But what is imagination ? Let us ask the 
artist, the poet, the painter, ask genius that is so 
closely allied to insanity, ask all who create from 
ideal forms, and they will tell us, one and all, that 
imagination is the wings of the soul that bear up the 
lagging fancy, the slow and plodding mind, till it en- 
ters the ideal world and gazes there on both beauty 
and deformity in all their nakedness. They will tell 
us that what we call the real world is at best but a 
poor and colorless caricature as compared with the 
ideals open to the imagination, and that what is gen- 
erally termed the work of genius, bears but a touch 
of that transcendent truth and reality that veils its 
face from every faculty of man on the phenomenal 
plane. Let us ask the true scientist what we know 
of any thing, of matter, space, time, or motion, of 
the whole phenomenal world, and he will tell us, and 
tell us truly, that we have our own ideas of these, and 
nothing more. Finally ask that greatest of modern 
philosophers, Schopenhauer, what imagination is ? 
He will tell us that not only the world but ourselves 



212 A Study of Man. 

included are reducible to two terms, imagination and 
will. The one is the essence and the creator of all 
forms in nature ; the other, the motive and creative 
power, and these powers are as potent on the subject- 
ive as on the objective plane; they are as active in 
drunken delirium, and in insanity, as in that other 
condition of consciousness that we call sanity. If in 
the phenomenal world we build toward our ideals, we 
seldom realize them. All that we thus build not only 
fails to come up to our ideals, but they have incorpo- 
rated into their entire structure both disappointment 
and decay, from turret to foundation stone. It may 
thus be seen that imagination is a potent factor on 
every plane on which consciousness holds open court, 
and that our ideas are often less realities on the phe- 
nomenal plane of outer sense than on any other. 
The amount of empirical evidence demonstrating the 
existence of the subjective plane is simply overwhelm- 
ing, and these facts have been quite long enough re- 
garded as mere coincidences. They are, indeed, often 
accidents of birth, temperament, disease and the like, 
so far as any human quality or human experience can 
be regarded as accidental. These irrelevant and 
spasmodic experiences are often a source of great dis- 
tress, and even of calamity to the individual, disqual- 
ifying him for the life of the world while yet unfitted 
to realize and utilize these potent factors in the sub- 
jective life. Whenever scientists, so-called, are tired 
of the supreme folly of trying to deduce consciousness 



Consciousness. 213 

from matter, and of ignoring the plainest facts in 
every-day experience, and whenever they will go se- 
riously to work by both induction and deduction to 
investigate consciousness in all its manifestations and 
relations, they will have entered on a line of research 
that will very soon astonish them. Why, it may be 
asked, have scientific men as a whole made so little 
headway either in investigating that psychological 
babel, modern spiritualism, or in staying its progress 
even among the educated and intelligent ? I answer 
unhesitatingly, because they have with few excep- 
tions contented themselves with parrot-like reitera- 
tion of a meaningless phrase, unconscious cerebration; 
and then they have smiled in each other's faces over 
the humbuggery of assuming that they know what 
their slogan means. They have gone further than this. 
They have put forth this thimble-rigging psychology 
as orthodox science, and done their best to taboo 
every one who dared to question their conclusions 
and investigate for himself. The announcement has 
again and again been made that noiv science is going 
to take up the subject and handle it as only scientists 
can. But alas ! for those who have waited with great 
expectations for the results ! These wiseacres have 
like children been frightened by their own bug-a-boo. 
Some one would impeach their orthodoxy and it 
would ruin their prospects as pure scientists. Does 
this all sound like a tirade ? Then examine the rec- 
ords, from the times of Mesmer and Von Reichen- 



214 A Study of Man. 

bach down to Hodgeson's report. It is no excuse to 
say that the whole subject is mixed with fraud, un- 
canny and not altogether respectable. Say what you 
please of this psychological babel, it spreads over the 
globe. Noted mediums are invited to the palaces of 
princes, and there is more table-tipping and spirit- 
communion on the sly, than spirit-drinking at the 
tables of the rich. So-called mediumship is often a 
disease with an almost irresistible tendency to suicide, 
and it is often as contagious as the epidemic mono- 
mania of the sixteenth century. Scientific denuncia- 
tion has been as powerless to stay the spread of spir- 
itualism as unconscious cerebration, to explain it. 
True science apprehends a real cause behind every 
phenomenon of nature, and even delusion and mono- 
mania are no exceptions. If scientific men would 
but recognise the fact of subjective consciousness that 
is demonstrated every time they sleep, or give chloro- 
form, or hypnotize an individual, nay every time a 
weak woman faints in a crowded room, and then go 
to work in earnest to arrange and classify all facts 
derived from this plane of life, they would presently 
be able to offer such an explanation of the powers 
and planes of action of individual consciousness as 
would dissipate the delusions and diminish the dan- 
gers of dealing with the dead. That our individual 
consciousness which in one of its states is related to 
the outer phenomenal world, is on another plane in- 
dependent of space and time, as we understand these 



Consciousness. 215 

terms, is a matter of easy demonstration; and it 
offers an explanation, when once clearly defined and 
understood, of a great deal of undeniable human ex- 
perience now attributed to ghosts and goblins 
damned. Having determined what experiences are 
genuine, which is often exceedingly difficult, a better 
knowledge of the powers of man and of his states 
of consciousness will assign to the embodied soul 
on earth the greater part of the spiritualistic phe- 
nomena. If one were to point out the dangers of 
these attempts to deal with the dead, he would be 
met by anger and scorn. It is the most useless and 
dangerous form of other-worldliness. It draws the 
attention from present duty and possibilities in the 
present life, and reverses the only method by which 
either any individual, or the race as a whole, has ever 
risen in the scale of being. The whole effort of spir- 
itualism would seem to be to determine and to force 
the return of a disembodied soul to earthly conscious- 
ness, and to drag it back into matter; while every 
thoughtful person ought to be aware that the eleva- 
tion of man depends on the degree in which he rises 
toward the spiritual world. The time will doubtless 
come when the so-called materializations will be bet- 
ter understood, and every clean person will avoid 
them then, as the more enlightened among the spirit- 
ualists do now. Admitting, for the sake of the argu- 
ment, the whole philosophy and phenomena of 
modern spiritualism, these efforts to drag the soul 



216 A Study of Man. 

back to earth and down into matter can justly be 
compared to criminal abortion, where the embryo is 
wrenched from its normal environment by an impulse 
akin to murder, the fitting hand-maid of animal lust. 
These twin abominations require a third member to 
constitute an unholy trinity that shall be a fit com- 
panion for Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards 
the gates of the infernal regions, and these dealings 
with the dead may furnish the missing member. 
This may be strong language, but it may be found 
hereafter, that the blood of the slaughtered innocents 
that so continually cries to heaven in this our boasted 
civilization, will vie with these dealings with the dead 
in barring the gates of paradise to those who have so 
thwarted the will of nature and disregarded her plain- 
est laws. . Dynamite destroys regardless of the igno- 
rance of him who unwisely trifies with it. One world 
at a time is quite enough for the best of people to 
deal with, and the best of people have in all time 
earned that title by their efforts to elevate the human 
race on earth, and to ameliorate the condition of hu- 
manity; no other world can be anticipated without 
neglect of this. 

What we need is to know more of man as he is 
here and now, and this knowledge will never be de- 
rived from psychological jugglery. Such explana- 
tions, as are to be derived from psychological laws, 
have now been so long delayed that otherwise intelli- 
gent persons convinced beyond all cavil of the truth 



Consciousness. 217 

of many experiences and phenomena of so-called 
spiritualism are ready to denounce any other than 
the orthodox explanations of the spiritualists, as di- 
rect dealings with the dead. These persons have 
come to their present conclusions by long and patient 
trial, with great hesitancy, and often only after re- 
peated disappointments from so-called science; and 
having at last despaired of any other explanation 
than that which spiritualism offers, they have come 
to the conclusion that none other exists. The re- 
sponsibility here lies at the door of science. It is her 
sin of omission, and she should hasten to correct it. 
The subjective plane of being is to be subjectively ex- 
perienced, and when such subjective experience is 
that of another, and not our own, it is no more evi- 
dence for us than any other matter taken on faith in 
the integrity and intelligence of an observer. In 
cases where supposed materializations from the sub- 
jective world occur, the most simple and at the same 
time the most comprehensive fact is generally over- 
looked : namely, that all that appears, all that is ma- 
terial and visible to the objective sense, is not spirit, 
not subjective; and granting that the phenomenon is 
genuine it is no evidence of spirit life or individual 
identity. What the thing was before being material- 
ized, and what it will be afterward is as unknown to 
us as before. Admitting all that is claimed for the 
phenomenon, the explanation is not conclusive, nor is 
it the only one possible. The most wonderful mate- 



218 A Study of Man. 

rialization is man himself, and our opportunities to 
investigate him are all that could be desired. We 
are not confined to dark seance-rooms, a stifling at- 
mosphere, and doomed to have both hands held fast 
lest we should touch or see our subject under inves- 
tigation. We can examine our subject at high noon, 
in the broad light of day, at midnight when slumber 
closes his eye-lids and all external consciousness is 
withdrawn, and when the flitting pictures of dreams 
mold his outer life to expressions of emotion. We 
can examine him in the palace and in the hovel, under 
every stress of feeling, and rocked like a frail vessel 
with surging passion. Here is a materialized spirit 
if there is one anywhere, and yet man turns from 
him, from his own embodied consciousness, and hunts 
for ghosts and ghouls. We neglect the ofiices of 
kindness and the words of love and helpfulness till 
our friend is snatched beyond the veil, and then de- 
vote the rest of our lives to knocking at the door 
through which he passed to inquire if he still lives 
and is happy ! Alas ! the irony of life in the pres- 
ence of the mystery of death ! Alas ! the hypocrisy 
over death in the presence of the mystery and the 
wasted opportunities of life ! 

" I wage not any feud with Death 

For changes wrought on form and face ; 
No lower life, that earth's embrace 
May breed with him, can fright my faith. 



Consciousness. 219 

"Eternal process moving on, 

From state to state the spirit walks ; 
And these are but the shattered stalks, 
Or ruined chrysalis of one. 

"How pure at heart and sound in head, 
With what divine affections bold, 
Should be the man whose thought would hold 
An hour's communion with the dead. 

" In vain shalt thou, or any call 

The spirits from their golden day, 
Except, like them, thou too canst say, 
My spirit is at peace with all." 



CHAPTER XII. 



HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



The most earnest and the most able students 
of the phenomena of nature have often been led 
to the conception that all the forces in nature 
that manifest their presence as special modes of 
motion are resolvable into one force, and, that this 
one force is the latent energy lying back of all phe- 
nomena. It has been elsewhere suggested in these 
pages that what we recognize as magnetism, answers 
more nearly to this universal force than any form of 
energy known to us to-day. To say that magnetism 
is life, would be a meaningless assertion in the pres- 
ent condition of our knowledge of either life or mag- 
netism ; and yet the phenomena of life and the phe- 
nomena of magnetism are very closely related to each 
other. Life, like magnetism, seems to be every- 
where diffused. Each seems ready to manifest its 
presence on the slightest provocation, the conditions 
of their manifestation so far as we know being very 
simple, yet the conditions are very different in the 
two cases. No life dissociated from organisms is 
manifest to us. Magnetism on the other hand mani- 
fests its presence in both animate and inanimate nat- 
ure, and no radical difference has yet been discovered 
(220) 



Health and Disease. 221 

between animal and terrestrial magnetism. It might 
logically be conceived that magnetism is that latent 
energy every- where diffused in nature which under 
certain conditions assumes the special mode of motion 
designated as heat, light, electricity and the like, and 
which at the same time constitutes the sum of that 
energy of the organism called vitality. The vital 
phenomena of organisms are manifested in a great 
variety of forms, and may be conceived as involving 
and combining all other modes of motion, and at the 
same time there are still higher forms of energy dis- 
played by organisms that are found nowhere else in 
nature. If magnetism and life can not be conceived 
as synonyms, magnetism and vitality may be found 
more closely allied, though life is more than mere vi- 
tality, and vitality is more than magnetism. It 
should be borne in mind that we do not know the es- 
sence of any force, no matter how simple its display, 
and it should also be remembered that the energy of 
living beings is directly related to that which alone 
manifests life : namely, the organism. While there- 
fore we may consider life in its relation to mere vital- 
ity and to magnetism on the one side, we must not 
forget that life bears a definite relation to all special 
modes of motion, and variations of structure desig- 
nated as organic on the other side ; or, we must re- 
member the structure and conditions of manifesta- 
tion, while considering the energy that is displayed. 
Again, it should be remembered that magnetism in 



222 A Study of Man. 

organisms is the polarizing agency, and that while it 
determines organization, facilitates movement, and 
co-ordinate rhythm, it tends also to the fixation of 
form which in the end crystallizes and destroys. In 
other words, the motive power of life is at last a 
consuming fire. So far as dynamics are concerned, 
the creator and the destroyer are one. 

1 ' Life evermore is fed by death, 
In earth, and sea, and sky ; 
And, that a rose may breathe its breath, 
Something must die. 

" From lowly woe springs lordly joy ; 
From humbler good, diviner ; 
The greater life must aye destroy 
And drink the minor." 

It may thus he seen that both life and vitality are 
something more than magnetism. The most compre- 
hensive fact in germ or organism is not mere vitality, 
not the quantity of force present, nor yet the fact that 
this energy manifests a great variety of movements. 
The most comprehensive fact is, the positing of a cen- 
ter of life, and the unfolding of a still interior center of 
consciousness. The principle of form and order, the 
laws of development, and the mode of action, tran- 
scend the mere equivalents of energy. It is true that 
no life is manifest without movement of matter, and 
that vitality represents both the motive power and 
the sum of all energy, and magnetism may be the 
source whence vitality is derived ; hut if this were all, 



Health and Disease. 223 

i 

then a steam engine and a block of stone would be 

of equal value as motors when inspired by steam. 

No adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, 
health, is possible except in intimate relation with the 
word life ; and no adequate conception of the mean- 
ing of the word, life, is possible dissociated from an 
organism, which alone manifests life. Life is some- 
thing more than any or all force, and health is 
something beyond all energy or mere vitality. If 
no amount of mere vitality alone constitutes life, so 
no mere lack of energy can alone cause disease or 
death. Neither life, nor health, nor disease can be 
regarded as mere kinematics. 

When we regard life as^an endowment of matter, 
even in the relatively formless matter called proto- 
plasm, we find it always associated with an or- 
ganism, so that the foregoing principles hold good 
even here. Previous to the positing of a center 
of life, and the building of an organism, we can 
not conceive of life as being manifested in matter, 
or in any sense as an attribute of matter alone. If, 
therefore, life can be said to be in any sense an at- 
tribute of matter, even of protoplasm, so in the 
same sense, though perhaps in a less degree, can life 
be predicated of all matter — latent in one case, and 
manifest in another. Whenever so-called living mat- 
ter has been analyzed no element has been found un- 
familiar to the chemist. We may regard the life 
principle, or the potency of life, as diffused every- 



224 A Study of Man. 

where in nature, and all matter as waiting for the 
manifestation of life. A considerable portion of the 
matter of the globe has no doubt thus been at one 
time involved in the manifestation of life, and these 
remains of organisms constitute alike the ocean's bed 
and the mountain's mass. 

So far as life can be regarded as a quality of mat- 
ter, it is every-where one in kind. There is, indeed, 
one flesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds, 
and another of man ; but the life principle in all these 
is not many, but one. The matter of life in all these 
varied forms is convertible, one into the other, and 
such conversion modifies the organism that feeds on 
other forms of life, though this alone can not change 
the nature of beast or man. 

If life as a "quality of matter is every-where the 
same in kind, we may define health in any case, 
whether in plants, animals or man, as the harmonious 
operation of the life force in an organism. This ideal 
harmony would include the sum of all energies, and 
perfection in the development of structure. Harmony 
between all these would constitute health. Disease 
might then arise through failure of action, or over- 
action of any of these elements of force or structure. 
Regarding again the force-side of the equation alone, 
as there is but one quality of life, viewed as an endow- 
ment of matter, so would there be but one kind of dis- 
ease, viewed as a disturbance of vitality. While, then, 
life viewed as one in kind, manifests or qualifies in an 



Health and Disease. 225 

innumerable number of forms or concrete degrees, 
so disease, viewed as disturbed Harmony or modi- 
fied vitality, and one in kind, would be found to 
manifest a great variety of forms. The vitality, and 
the integrity of the structure in organisms, are defi- 
nitely related to each other. These are mutually de- 
pendent. Not the slightest disturbance of either 
function or structure is possible without the other 
participating and suffering accordingly. In all mat- 
ters of growth, repair, development and function, it 
is physiologically as correct to say that the function 
builds or exercises the organ, as that the organ exer- 
cises the function. The relation and the dependence 
are mutual. 

If these principles are true on the organic plane of 
life, in relation to structure and function, and no 
physiologist can successfully deny them, they will 
also be found to hold good on the higher plane where 
body and soul are concerned. The relation between 
body and mind will be found to be the same as be- 
tween organism and function, or between structure 
and vitality. If in any sense the body can be said to 
build and to manifest mind, in the same sense can the 
mind be said to build and exercise the body. The 
dependence here, as in the former case, is mutual. 

If the foregoing premise and reasoning be correct, 
then the prevailing methods of regarding health and 
disease are greatly at fault, for these pay great atten- 
15 



226 A Study of Man. 

tion to vitality and structure, but almost wholly disre- 
gard the relation of body and mind. If the relation of 
vitality to structure on the one side, is supplemented 
by the relation of mind to body on the other, what 
reason can there be for paying so much attention to 
vitality and so little attention to mind. We hear much 
about the necessary care of the body, and of its exer- 
cise to promote vitality, strength of life, and length 
of days ; but we hear very little in regard to habits of 
thought, strength of will, and dissipation of energy 
in the mental realm. Imagination, the creator of 
forms and of all ideals, is left to run riot, or is in- 
dulged as a mere luxury, a beautiful or a depraved 
supernumerary of existence. 

Every intelligent student of human nature is aware 
that any disturbance of bodily structure or function 
modifies mental function and power, and that when- 
ever such disturbance is severe, or long continued, the 
mental alienation may also become severe. No so- 
called diseases are more common than hysteria, and 
hypochondria ; they often give color to a whole life, 
destroy all happiness, and render their possessors the 
most miserable of beings, besides entailing untold 
misery upon others. But slight physical disturbance 
in such cases can be discovered, certainly none that 
necessarily shortens physical life ; nor is there great 
bodily pain, nor physical suffering, nor inability for al- 
most any amount of sensuous indulgence or dissipa- 
tion. There is often in such cases a wonderful ability 



Health and Disease. 227 

to make every one miserable. We are all familiar with 
persons who habitually indulge in fits of anger, jeal- 
ousy, enviousness, greed, and all uncharitableness ; and 
these persons seem to be unaware of the fact that they 
are molding their whole bodily structure to these vi- 
cious habits, so that in time it may refuse to express any 
other sentiment or emotion. The connection between 
body and mind seems to be wholly lost sight of. All 
evil passions and unworthy thoughts vitiate the bod- 
ily secretions, and in time mold the tissues so that the 
recurrence is automatic. It is by no means an un- 
common occurrence for a nursing infant to be thrown 
into convulsions from nursing -a mother that had re- 
cently indulged in a fit of anger, or to sicken from a 
mother's grief and unhappiness. These considera- 
tions and illustrations might be extended indefinitely 
to show the influence of the mind over the body, sup- 
plementing the influence of body on mind. Enough, 
however, has been said to show how basic are these 
relations, and that any concept of health, and any 
theory of disease must regard the relations of mind 
to body no less than of body to vitality. 

Now in the light of these considerations what is 
health ? We are not yet ready to answer this impor- 
tant question. In considering health in relation to vi- 
tality and structure, we have discovered that another 
factor enters into the account, namely, mind. If vi- 
tality be the motive power of the body, mind is its 
crowning glory ; and just as the vitality may be weak- 



228 A Study of Man. 

ened, vitiated or destroyed by vicious habits, so may 
the mind be deranged and demoralized by a similar 
process. Take from man all motive power and all 
mental power, and his body becomes an inert mass, 
fit only as food for worms, or to be scattered to the 
elements from which it came. If health in its broad- 
est sense is harmony, then that harmony concerns 
body and mind, no less than body and vitality. "What 
then is the normal relation of body and mind con- 
cerning which harmony is to be predicated and se- 
cured ? 

Mind is the immediate agent of the conscious ego, 
on the one side, and on the other, it stands as the 
consensus of all bodily faculties, sensations and feel- 
ings ; or in other words, as the translator of the outer 
physical world, through experience, into terms of 
self-consciousness. The body then with all its func- 
tions and faculties is the servant of the conscious ego, 
the real self. Mind and body therefore are equally 
servants of the real man. The sensuous life of man 
is directly related to the bodily structure and func- 
tions, and indirectly related to his mental life, while 
the results of all experience in these realms belong to 
the conscious ego, man's real individual life. The in- 
tellectual life of man is directly related to the con- 
scious ego above, to the sensuous life below, and in- 
directly related to the physical structure. What we 
call mind is therefore intermediate between the ego 
and the body. Naturally the mind is the almoner of 



Health and Disease. 229 

the real man, while the body is its servant to do its 
"bidding — the vehicle of its will, and the servant of 
its commands. Here then is a community of inter- 
ests with a centralization of power, hut in the nat- 
ural order this government is patriarchal. If the 
head directs the hands as to what they shall hold or 
not hold, and directs the feet whither they shall tend ; 
"by reason of the intelligence which the head pos- 
sesses and which the hands and feet do not possess, 
the head preserves and protects "both hands and feet 
as its own, as part of its very self, its trained and 
true servants, and "best friends. Each has need of 
the other. But suppose the hands and feet grow re- 
bellious, and say to the head, we will no longer fol- 
low your bidding, we prefer our own counsels, and 
will go our own way ; it is easy to see what will fol- 
low. The order and the design of nature are appar- 
ent. It would he no more absurd to allow the hands 
and feet to dictate the policy of government in the 
life of man, than to allow his sensuous life, his appe- 
tites and passions, to rule rather than serve the real 
man. Harmony therefore means the rule of the 
lower faculties by the next higher in concrete de- 
grees, and the supreme rule of the conscious ego. 
Every thing short of this is the harmony of death. 
Peace secured on any other terms means final disso- 
lution and destruction. In a well-ordered govern- 
ment, such as the nature of man is evidently designed 
to be, the ego sits a king upon his throne. The 



230 A Study of Man. 

mental faculties are his ministers of state ; the sen- 
sory faculties are his household servants, and never 
his masters. The vital powers are his standing-army 
to protect his realm, and never to invade that of his 
neighbors, but able, in case of need, to relieve dis- 
tress, protect the innocent, and promote the reign of 
peace and plenty throughout the world. When the 
king is thus enthroned, Health blooms like a rose on 
the outer walls of his palace, and harmony dwells 
within his gates. This is the meaning of a sound 
mind in a sound body ; and the jewel that sparkles in 
the crown of the king is a spark of the Divine In- 
telligence, and it illuminates the whole palace as the 
diadem of divinity. 

But alas ! the king is dethroned and a tyrant sits 
in his stead. He dons the crown and boasts of its 
jewel, unmindful that its brightness is blackened as 
with fire. There is no tyrant like disease. His min- 
ions lurk in every drop of blood, and hold high car- 
nival in joint and sinew ; their bonfires glare in 
every organ, and set on fire even the mind, the palace 
of the king ; they hoot at the tyrant, yet hasten to 
do his evil bidding. Crime is but another name for 
disease, and sickness and pain are but the disorder, 
bred by ignorance of the just laws of the rightful 
heir to the throne of life. It was not so designed ; it 
ought not so to be. Whenever intelligent human 
beings shall take as much pains to keep their minds 
clean as to keep their bodies clean ; whenever these 



Health and Disease. 231 

shall realize that even perfect health, noble powers, 
and splendid opportunities are but the beginning of 
real life on earth, then only will man have entered 
his birthright, and begun to involve the divinity that 
is above him. 

The progress of science is almost altogether in 
physical things, and the practice of medicine has lit- 
tle regard for any thing beyond man's physical being. 
Insane asylums are crowed to repletion, and half the 
energies of those who are not actually disabled by 
disease in some form, or who are not classed and 
housed either as criminals or unfortunates, are de- 
manded to take care of those who are thus disabled, 
and sequestered. It is as though an army marching 
through an unknown land were kept busy caring for 
its wounded and burying its dead, when not in actual 
conflict with its camp-followers. Real progress is re- 
tarded if not impossible. The rule of nature is not 
the greatest good to the greatest number, but the 
greatest good to all ; and she every- where and at all 
times places over against the apparent progress of 
the classes, the real degradation, suffering and de- 
spair of the masses. If you think, my reader, that 
this is an altogether pessimistic view of things, I put 
but one inquiry : Is it not true ? He who is clothed 
in the human form, and who therefore belongs to the 
great body, humanity ; he whose lines have fallen in 
pleasant places and who is rich in basket and in store, 
yet who imagines that he has progressed away from 



232 A Study of Man. 

the misfortunes and miseries of his kind, will find 
himself woefully mistaken. The miseries of human- 
ity are indeed like a great stone, crushing out its 
life. He who will fall upon this stone with all his 
"best endeavor, shall "break it ; hut upon whomsoever 
this stone shall fall it shall grind him to powder. 
Neither politics nor physic will cure the ills with 
which we are amicted. More than half our diseases, 
counting criminals, and so-called unfortunates, are of 
mental origin. Vicious habits of thought, greed for 
place, for power, and for gold, selfishness in every 
devil's garb, crush out the light of love and disease 
all humanity. 

The laws of health are few and simple ; the means 
of restoration to health where people are not hope- 
lessly diseased, are usually simple also; but these 
laws and measures have strict regard to the mind as 
well as to the body, and no less to the body politic. 
We placard a house against small-pox, and disinfect 
against contagion, yet moral leprosy and mental dis- 
temper are seldom regarded as contagious. Every 
thing possible is often done to increase the predispo- 
sition to disease in the young by encouraging precoc- 
ity, and disregarding malformation. If a child of tu- 
berculous parents is born with a narrow chest and a 
large head, by the time he reaches the age of puberty 
these defects in the structural harmony of the body 
are often greatly increased ; whereas they might be 
nearly, if not altogether eliminated by out-of-door ex- 



Health and Disease. 233 

ercise, proper diet, and mental repose. The statistics 
of consumption are a sufficient commentary. The 
doctors are expected to do with drugs what the pa- 
rents might have accomplished by a little less wor- 
ship of society, or mammon, and a little knowl- 
edge of physiology. The druggists and the venders 
of patent medicines manage to pick up a living, 
while the doctors waste a good deal of valuable time 
in collecting fees and gathering statistics for cases of 
tubercular disease ! By the time these cases are 
brought to the doctors with cough, hectic, night- 
sweats, and emaciation, they are hopeless, and before 
this time, warning is disregarded. The medical pro- 
fession has been actively and faithfully engaged for 
many years in trying to discover the cause and pre- 
vention of disease, and the best service of the best 
physician consists in teaching people how not to be 
sick. Many persons in every community value the 
services of a physician according to the length of his 
countenance and the size of his doses. This offers a 
golden field to patent medicines, advertising quacks, 
and unprincipled scoundrels, and here as elsewhere 
the supply equals and sometimes exceeds the demand, 
and yet .these people wonder that they are sick ! The 
real province of medicine in the cure of disease is 
very narrow. The true application of physiology and 
hygiene in the prevention of disease and in the resto- 
ration to health is very broad. There are indeed in 
every community a large and increasing class of per- 



234 A Study of Man. 

sons who are beginning to realize these facts, and 
though a single generation will not suffice to render 
them longer-lived, they have already greater confi- 
dence and greater comfort in life. The organization 
of schools for the training of nurses, and the better 
education of students in all respectable medical col- 
leges, added to decrease of drugging and better re- 
gard for the laws of life and health in general, are 
hopeful signs for the future of humanity. As yet 
these are but feeble resources in the face of the ig- 
norance, the superstition and the degradation of man. 
Fraud and imposture are always able to thrive on ig- 
norance, and disease will disappear only in proportion 
as these recede. 

The life of the globe is one in kind, so far as 
life is considered as a force inherent in matter. 
It may also be conceived that disease is also re- 
ducible to a single form as disturbed vitality. A 
mental emotion, indulgence of the imagination or 
mental friction is as competent to disturb vitality 
as any physical cause. In a great many cases of 
disease recovery is retarded, or rendered impossi- 
ble by mental conditions. Mental states are thus 
both the cause and the cure of many diseases, and 
mental conditions have a great deal to do in all dis- 
eases. It likewise follows that mental states ward 
off disease, and promote health. It is quite evident 
from the signs of the times, that these facts are being 
better understood, and that so-called mental cure is 



Health and Disease, 235 

to have a far larger part to play in the future of med- 
icine than has been assigned to it in the past. In- 
temperate, unreasonable, and untrue assertions, how- 
ever, will not promote progress in this direction more 
than in any other. The mind is not all there is of 
man, nor is mind the sole cause of either life, health, 
or disease. We have already indicated the relation 
of mind, to body, and of the conscious ego to mind. 
There are bodily functions, like respiration, that are 
largely under the control of the will, and cases have 
been known where the exercise of the will could per- 
ceptibly modify the action of the heart. In ordinary 
life, however, there is no function of man less under 
the control of the will than the process of thought ; 
and few individuals have any more power to prevent or 
control the surging billows of passion that sweep over 
the soul, than they have to ward off malaria or small- 
pox from the physical body. There is no greater pre- 
disponent to disease than fear, which renders the body 
negative and disarms the mind of all resistance to all 
morbific agents. The characteristic phenomena of 
fear, influencing both mind and body, are more or less 
present in all disease, though these phenomena may 
arise from an innumerable number of causes. It is 
true, that mental exaltation may render the individual 
unconscious of pain, and may even remove functional 
disease under certain circumstances. It is equally true 
that mental exaltation will result in insanity and cause 
death. Mere mental exaltation, therefore, is not nee- 



236 A Study of Man. 

essarily a beneficent and curative process ; nor will 
any mental state possible to man in bis present con- 
dition of inberited disease and partial development, 
be sufficient to remove bis disability, and keep bim 
well and happy for any great lengtb of time. Sucb 
a result can only be attained through processes tbat 
fully recognize what man is, and what it is possible 
for bim to become, and the philosophy which attains 
this result, will not begin by ignoring the fact that man 
is a divine idea but partially realized — imperfect as to 
mechanism and function, and habituated by long 
practice and generations of inherited bias to disease 
to sin and to death. This imperfect man is not in 
any broad sense a magician. A true magician is one 
who, from intimate knowledge of the laws and proc- 
esses of nature, is able to bring about results that 
seem miraculous to those ignorant of nature's laws. 
It is true that enthusiasm and mental exaltation will 
sometimes accomplish wonders ; but when these con- 
ditions are laid on a foundation of ignorance, and not 
on any real knowledge, the results are neither certain 
nor permanent. The assertions of ignorance are not 
always separated from the dicta of knowledge ; the 
ignorant and superstitious know no difference be- 
tween them. 

Cheerfulness is a great promoter of health, and yet 
many persons are from temperament and inheritance, 
morbid and melancholy. Antenatal conditions must 
be taken into account, and" the load of depression 



Health and Disease. 237 

accumulated generation after generation, sometimes 
rests upon an individual with a crushing power that 
he is unable to withstand. The education of an in- 
dividual is inseparable from his inheritance, and al- 
ways commences long before he is born. Whenever 
parents begin to realize this fact, they will be able to 
prevent many of those calamities that now entail un- 
told misery. 

What man most needs is a knowledge of his own 
nature, and of the laws of physiology that conduce to 
health of body, and health of mind. When man is 
in possession of this knowledge he will value it above 
rubies, and when, through the exercise of this knowl- 
edge he has been able to remove all vicious habits, 
and to overcome inherited bias to disease and crime, 
then indeed, will the bright blood of health course 
through his veins. 

Even in the face of all these acquired habits and 
inherited tendencies to disease, restoration to the best 
degree of health possible under the circumstances, 
depends far less on any drug action, than on the 
correction of the vicious habit, be it of body or 
of mind. People often regard these measures as 
ridiculously simple, and in other cases are unwill- 
ing to forego the self-denial and take the trouble 
necessary to recovery. People often act as though 
they believe that when sick, it is only necessary 
to consult a physician, pay him a fee, take a cer- 



238 A Study of Man. 

tain quantity of drugs, and straightway be as 
though the disease had never occurred. The vicious 
habit remaining unchecked, the disease of course 
returns, and so-called chronic disease is the result. 
Medicine no longer serves to arrest or modify 
the condition complained of, and a cure is now 
rendered often impossible. The result is a premature 
death, or a miserable old age ; but in the meantime, 
the vicious habit is generally transmitted to posterity, 
and the final conflict, rendered constantly more diffi- 
cult, is relegated to the coming generations. 

These are the problems that are pressing for con- 
sideration. There is no end of new remedies, and 
new methods of compromise with disease; but there 
is far too little attention paid to the promotion and 
preservation of health, and toward this end, the men- 
tal conditions, habits of thought, and ideals in life 
have quite as much to do as any mere bodily function. 
We need less of mind-cure, and far more of mind- 
health ; we need higher ideals in life, pursued with 
more zeal; we need a concentration of energies on 
more noble purposes ; we need mental exaltation 
that shall be able to see beyond self, and that shall 
be supported by health of body, and thus be capable 
of unwearied exercise, and not unsettle the reason, 
nor relax into ennui and imbecility. 

Reforms in medicine like political reforms come 
largely from outside demand originating with the 
people. With many noble exceptions, and in spite 



Health and Disease. 239 

of the progress and liberality of the age, there is, 
nevertheless, more of bigotry, more of the spirit of 
intolerance and persecution in the so-called medical 
profession of to-day than among almost any other 
class of persons of equal intelligence. The reason 
for this may be found in the innate selfishness of 
human nature, so often placed on trial by self- 
interest. Those ignorant of the laws of life are in 
continual fear of death; ignorance and fear thus 
offer continual prizes to cupidity. Human nature is 
indeed every- where the same, but selfishness does not 
every- where have equal opportunity. The growth of 
selfishness, like that of any other vice, is often im- 
perceptible ; it is but another form of animal ego- 
tism, and it thrives best in an age of ignorance and 
superstition. Progress elsewhere in human affairs 
depends upon the diffusion of intelligence among the 
people, and progress in medicine offers no exception 
to the rule. Nothing will do so much to banish the 
fear of death, as diffusion of a knowledge of the laws 
of life. 

Unprofessional and even unprincipled persons have 
recently called attention to the influence of mind in 
promoting both health and disease. Many persons 
in every community have caught the new craze, and 
as a consequence there is a decrease in the sale of 
patent medicines and in indiscriminate drugging. If 
physicians would encourage a liberal spirit of investi- 
gation, and would rely less on denunciation, soon every 



240 A Study of Man. 

honest student would be convinced that drugs are in- 
ferior to dynamics, and that the silent, and hitherto 
unrecognized forces of nature, are potent agents for 
both good and ill. Denunciation not only never pro- 
motes the cause of truth, but it often confirms people 
in error. There is, indeed, both room for improve- 
ment and need of progress at this point. Humanity 
will still offer a fruitful field for speculation, no less 
from a financial, than from a philosophical point of 
view ; and its only protection and elevation will still 
lie in the diffusion of knowledge among the masses. 
While ignorance remains, cupidity will flourish. 
Whenever among the people the real good is placed 
above the seeming profit ; when health of body, and 
health of mind are held as superior to sensuous en- 
joyment ; whenever character is held as superior to 
conventionality, and whenever standards of right are 
valued above those of so-called society, then will the 
ideal become the real, and health will take the place 
of disease. 

The condition called disease manifests its presence, 
first, through disturbed function, and even where tis- 
sue change is the first to be observed, no such change 
has arisen without previous disturbance of function 
in the part involved. When, therefore, diseases are 
classed as functional and organic, the former pre- 
cede the latter. The seeming exceptions to this 
rule where, for example, morbid growths arise, are 
classed as disturbances of the function of nutrition, 



Health and Disease. 241 

and later on in the progress of the disease, these 
morbid growths may disturb other functions in many 
ways. The length of time required for acute func- 
tional disease to become chronic organic disease va- 
ries very greatly. As a rule this change occurs very 
slowly, owing to the resistance offered by the vitality 
of the body. There are exceptional cases, however, 
where, from age or enfeebled constitution, the prog- 
ress is very rapid. In the strictest sense there can be 
no disturbance of function without disturbance of 
structure, while every abnormal modification of 
structure changes the function of the organ or part 
involved. "While, therefore, the most intelligent 
pathologist often experiences difficulty in determin- 
ing in a given case, whether important tissue changes 
have yet occurred, those ignorant of these basic prin- 
ciples of pathology often entirely overlook the differ- 
ence between incurable organic disease, and simple 
functional disturbance, and are as ready to promise a 
cure in the one case as in another. Just so surely as 
disease results in death, so surely is there a period 
during its progress previous to death, when it is in- 
curable. This point is never reached through im- 
paired function alone. The old saying, " as long as 
there is life there is hope," is, therefore, often a fal- 
lacy. It is a singular circumstance, that when an in- 
dividual recovers from any given disease, the recovery 
is attributed to such appliances as have been made 
16 



242 A Study of Man. 

use of, no matter what they may have been, even 
though they may really have permanently impaired 
the health of the patient. Let any dozen similar 
cases of any disease be treated by as many different 
methods, some of them diametrically opposite, and 
with doses of drugs varying from the maximum to 
the minimum, and the practitioner in every case will 
claim credit for the cure, provided the patient does 
not die. If the patient dies, really from over-dosing 
and malpractice, or from neglect of the proper rem- 
edies, or from any other cause, it is put down as an 
inscrutable dispensation of Divine Providence. We 
thus rob Providence of all credit for assistance in case 
of cure, and load upon Him all our misfortunes and 
mistakes. There is no help for this condition of things 
except in better knowledge on the part of the people, 
and more and better knowledge on the part of the 
practitioners of medicine. The simple fact ought to 
be generally understood, that by far the larger part 
of simple functional disorders tends to spontaneous 
recovery. It ought to be generally understood that 
such assistance as is generally required to restore a 
simple functional disturbance consists largely in hy- 
gienic and dietetic measures, such as are dictated by 
intelligence. It ought to be generally understood, 
moreover, that most of such cases will recover if they 
are not prevented from so doing by pernicious inter- 
ference ; and finally it ought to be understood that no 
person is properly educated who can not in some fair 



Health and Disease. 243 

degree distinguish between functional and organic 
disease. The pursuit of this knowledge should be 
encouraged, in preference to much of that which now 
constitutes the course pursued in schools and colleges. 
The first result of the more general diffusion of such 
knowledge would be that the physician would be 
less frequently consulted. The second result would 
be the more frequent detection and suppression of 
charlatanry, and the physician would be consulted 
in serious cases before it is too late. The result 
upon the medical profession would be that the gen- 
uine physician would be all the more appreciated. 
His occupation would indeed be skilled labor in the 
highest sense ; he would be to his patrons at once 
teacher, counsellor and friend, and the upper ranks 
of the profession, open then as now to all aspirants, 
would be measured by philanthropy no less than by 
skill. Physicians have in recent times paid great at- 
tention to the accurate diagnosis of disease. This 
branch of professional work has indeed become a fine 
art. It was formerly believed that skill in diagnosis 
could only come by long experience. One year's hos- 
pital experience to a young man well read in anat- 
omy, physiology and diagnosis, is now really of more 
worth as genuine experience, than a dozen years of 
the happy-go-lucky experience of a generation ago. 
The more intelligent individuals in any community 
no longer require that their doctors shall be moldy 
like their cheese, as Dr. Holmes wittily puts it, 



244 A Study of Man. 

well knowing that much of so-called experience 
serves only to deepen error and repeat mistakes. 

From the foregoing considerations it is easy to de- 
termine what influence the mind may have on dis- 
ease in general, and what class of diseases may dis- 
appear during mental exaltation, no matter how 
induced. These are strictly functional disorders. 
Unfortunately, very few indeed of the practitioners 
in the new craze called " mind-cure," " Christian Sci- 
ence," and the like, are any "better ahle to diagnose 
disease than their patients, and they are as likely to 
promise or report a cure of cancer or tuberculosis in 
the last stage, as in cases of hysteria or hypochon- 
driasis. These people seem unmindful of the fact that 
dangerous cases maybe criminally neglected, and that 
other cases will recover spontaneously if not inter- 
fered with. There is, moreover, another principle of 
equal importance relating to the function of the 
mind. If one were liable to fall overboard in mid- 
ocean, where nothing but swimming could save him, 
it would be the part of wisdom to try swimming. 
If one found himself overboard with no previous 
experience in swimming, he might intuitively catch 
the knack of swimming and pull out manfully till 
rescued ; but the chances would be that in the 
excitement, bewildered by fright, he would drown. 
It has already been shown that the great majority of 
persons can no more control their thoughts, and con- 
centrate their minds on a given idea, than by an 



Health and Disease. 245 

effort of the will they can control the beating of their 
own hearts. If then, no facility in controlling the mind 
and concentrating the thought has previously been 
acquired by an individual, and if he makes his first 
attempt at such control when under pressure of great 
excitement, or great danger, it is very doubtful if any 
appreciable result would follow, though a self-limit- 
ing disease, a mere functional disturbance might cot 
incidently disappear. Such disturbances are always 
more or less influenced by the will, and are some- 
times purely imaginary. On the other hand, it is 
well known that will-power may be cultivated and 
by practice the mental faculties may be concentrated 
to the point of abstraction, or such concentration may 
even result in distraction. Such exercises are, to say 
the least, dangerous to those ignorant of the laws of 
mind; as optical disease and insanity have been 
known to result therefrom. An individual in whom 
the mental faculties have been wisely exercised and 
concentrated by the will, may indeed fix his mind 
upon a given subject to the exclusion of all others ; 
and according to the motives that actuate his life, and 
the ideals that inspire his soul, he may create bless- 
ing or ban, and promote health or disease. The ex- 
ercise of mental concentration is one in which the 
poet, Tennyson, is said to delight, and he plainly re- 
fers to it in some of his most exquisite passages. For 
an individual who habitually neglects the plainest 
laws of health, and indulges many evil passions, to 



246 A Study of Man. 

devote his time to mental concentration for the cure 
of diseases that far safer and simpler measures would 
prevent is, to say the least, an unmitigated folly. 

It is not therefore, difficult to predict the outcome 
of the mind-cure and the so-called Christian Science 
craze. It has its good and its evil side according as 
its cultivators are sincere and intelligent, or the re- 
verse. It has already done some good, and a great 
deal of harm, and so will it no douht continue to do 
to the end of the chapter, when some new craze will 
take its place. 

To the intelligent student of human nature all 
such episodes present interesting psychological stud- 
ies, and if he but examines them fairly and dispassion- 
ately, they will prove valuable and instructive. If, 
however, he allows himself to become a zealous par- 
tisan on either side, he may follow, or fight the craze, 
and be no wiser in the one case than in the other. 

The true student of human nature will be as pas- 
sionless in the pursuit of truth, as he will be earnest 
in applying and diffusing it for the benefit of his fel- 
low-men. Reformers have, indeed, often been men 
of one idea, and unable to control the forces they 
have raised ; new and often greater abuses have fol- 
lowed closely upon reform. The student of human 
nature must be a philosopher, and he may also be a 
philanthropist. He may not rouse a nation to anger, 
but he can inspire the souls of men with benevolence ; 
and though he may escape fame, he will be certain 



Health and Disease. 247 

of a peaceful life and a contented mind. In the 
present* condition of society, when disease in some 
form is more nearly the rule than the exception, a 
large part of the resources and of the energy of man- 
kind is necessarily employed to secure health. The 
records of premature deaths and incurable diseases, 
show how inadequate, after all, are our efforts in this 
direction. It is indeed a rare thing to find an indi- 
vidual without an infirmity of some kind. We would 
soon become weary of listening to a musician who 
devoted the greater part of his time to the tuning of 
his instrument, and who could at best give us but 
snatches of harmony, and mere glimpses of his 
power. The human mechanism is a most wondrous 
instrument, capable not only of producing simple 
harmony, but of repeating the symphony of creation. 
Health of body and mind, rare as that condition may 
be, is nevertheless the beginning, and not the end of 
existence. The struggle for mere existence, wherein 
man is obliged to wage perpetual warfare against the 
foes of health, can give little conception of the real 
ministry and destiny of man on earth. So long 
as this battle must wage, man can not be said really 
to have lived at all. In perfect health man is no 
longer at war with nature, nor with the elements of 
his own body. Health means perfect peace, and is 
the foundation upon which the harmony and the 
blessedness of life proceed. From this foundation, 
the real divinity in man will go forth as an image of 



248 A Study of Man. 

his Creator, and a co-worker with the divine. In the 
present condition of man this may indeed be an ideal 
life, but it is certainly foreshadowed by all lower 
forms of life, and heralded by all coming events as 
the earthly destiny of man — a condition that is 
neither incomprehensible nor unattainable. Among 
the devices of men there is to be found no royal road 
to learning, and no universal panacea for disease. In 
the divinely appointed ordinances of nature may be 
found both the royal road, and the exemption from 
disease and suffering. These lie along the line of dis- 
cernment and obedience to law — not merely the laws 
governing the body, or the mind alone, for even these 
do not constitute the entire man. If man obeys, as 
far as they are known, the laws governing the body, 
disregards the laws of the mind, and is entirely igno- 
rant of the laws of the soul, or the higher self, he 
will still be at war with the very elements of his own 
nature, and he can not possibly thus be in harmony 
with his environment, or essential being. Health 
transcends the mere physical conditions, as man tran- 
scends mere matter and force, as harmony transcends 
all musical instruments. It is indeed true, that in 
its highest sense as complete harmony, health is an 
ideal condition ; but nature never builds without 
ideals, and no superstructure that man has ever 
reared has amounted to any thing except as it em- 
bodied and realized more or less completely these 



Health and Disease. 249 

ideals of nature * Man has discovered many things, 
but in reality invented nothing. The partial glimpses 
that man has gained of the laws and orderly proc- 
esses of nature, have hut enabled him to devise feeble 
counterparts of her equally wonderful appliances for 
utilizing force, overcoming resistance, and transform- 
ing matter. He who builds without ideals either in 
the outer world of sense, or in the inner world of 
soul, is leading an aimless life, and is like a ship sail- 
ing a boundless ocean without chart, compass, or des- 
tination, following the law of chances as to ship- 
wreck, and after that as to death or rescue. Nor is 
man left in necessary ignorance of these ideals. So 
long as man deliberately chooses the seeming profit 
in place of the real good, and prefers a moment's 
pleasure and an age of pain to self-denial, which is 
but the struggle to rise, or as the stroke of the brave 
swimmer to reach the shore, just so long will man be 
sick in mind and sick in soul, and therefore sick in 
body. No desirable possession of the mind, body or 
soul, is ever attained without a struggle. All earthly 
possessions cost us dear either to gain or to hold, and 
neither health of body, peace of mind, nor suprem- 
acy of soul are gained on easier terms, else would 
they be to-day the universal possession of man, in 
place of sickness, pain and death. One man plants a 

* The architectural principles of Vitruvius have as a founda- 
tion the modulus of man, thus deriving nature's law of form and 
proportion from her most perfect handiwork. 



250 A Study of Man. 

tree, well knowing that another shall gather the 
fruit. One man lays the foundations of a fortune, 
that his progeny may wear the crown of wealth, 
and yet few labor to possess and transmit even 
physical health to posterity. The foundations of 
great fortunes are always laid in labor and self-denial, 
and so are those of health and holiness. Thousands 
of young people set sail in life really bankrupt in 
health and in morals. Vitality and fresh experiences 
in sensuous enjoyment may for a time tide over the 
impending crisis, but it comes at last, involving inno- 
cent souls in ruin ; and so the calamities of life are 
transmitted and perpetuated generation after genera- 
tion, and then the blame is referred to the sin of 
Adam, or the dispensations of Providence! Every 
bankrupt soul knows better, though the charity of 
friends may still conceal the lie. 

The way to health lies through obedience to law, 
and the discernment of laws determining health lies 
in man's recognition of the fact that he is a complex 
being, a conscious spark of divinity embodied in mat- 
ter, and that no part of his nature can be .neglected 
or ignored without making the whole man sick. 
Mental, moral and spiritual diseases by far outnum- 
ber those of the physical body, for in these are in- 
cluded every sin and every crime, and so long as man 
ignores these, and their relations to the physical, so 
long will perfect health be an ideal of some other 



Health and Disease, 251 

clime, instead of the universal possession of human- 
ity on earth. 

Man is no more all mind than he is all body. The 
talk now-a-days about " mortal mind," and man as 
being nothing but God is meaningless. No man liv- 
ing, known to us to-day, is all mind, all body, or all 
God, nor will man become all God through pure im- 
agination, more than by gazing at the tip of his nose 
till he becomes cross-eyed. The perfection of man 
lies in his working with and through his conditions 
and environments toward ideal perfection, and that 
which more than all else hinders his march to " the 
serener heights wjiere dwells repose," is this igno- 
rance of his own nature, and innate selfishness in re- 
lation to his fellow-men. Let him work to remove 
these and the light of a new day will rise in him, and 
the dawn of a new era will begin for all humanity. 

"I trust I have not wasted breath ; 
I think we are not wholly brain, 
Magnetic mockeries. 



"To shape and use. Arise and fly 

The reeling Faun, the sensual feast ; 
Move upward, working out the beast, 
And let the ape and tiger die." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SANITY AND INSANITY. 

Health of body and health of mind are inseparably 
connected. A diseased mind in a healthy body, or a 
healthy mind in a diseased body, are alike incom- 
patible. Health has reference to perfect harmony 
and complete development, and is therefore an ideal 
condition rather than a present reality. Progress 
along the line of normal development leads contin- 
ually to broader vision and to a completer life. The 
goal of man is perfection ; arriving at this goal, man 
will find himself in perfect harmony with nature and 
at one with divinity. Sickness and disease are there- 
fore due to incomplete and imperfect development. 
The life of the animal is circumscribed by its own 
appetites, and limited by the necessities of its environ- 
ment. The animal ego in man narrows his vision 
and limits his endeavors to the circle of self. Having 
transcended the animal plane the nature of man as- 
pires to the next higher ; and whenever he ignores or 
denies this aspiration, which is his human birthright, 
his whole nature tends to revert to the animal plane. 
Whole races have thus * reverted to barbarism, and 
besotted individuals, even in communities of advanced 
civilization, are often thus bestialized. This condition 
(252) 



Sanity and Insanity. 253 

often results when reason is first dethroned, and 
where the human qualities gradually fade out and 
give place to the animal instincts and appetites. 
Such human beings not only manifest the instincts of 
animals, but they are even more dangerous to so- 
ciety, for the lingering light of reason converted to 
cunning intelligence may with the semblance of be- 
neficence clothe treachery in the garb of purity. 
"When the object of the demon's treachery is accom- 
plished or defeated, nothing can so chill the blood 
and terrify the soul as the shriek of his baffied rage 
or the howl of his fiendish triumph. The growl of 
the tiger or the roar of the lion are tame in compar- 
ison to the human voice thus degraded. 

The numbers of the incurably insane in all civilized 
countries are counted by tens of thousands, and these 
cases are largely on the increase. Like the diseases 
of the physical body, mental alienation manifests 
every conceivable degree, and every variety of form, 
from the morbid and melancholy to the raving 
maniac. In recent cases, and in the milder forms of 
the disease, treatment is sometimes followed by satis- 
factory results ; still, in spite of all advancement in 
the art of medicine, the number of incurable maniacs 
steadily increases. The number of the insane then 
steadily encroaches upon the number of the sane in 
every community, and this ratio of increase is likely 
to become still greater unless preventive measures 



254 J. Study of Man. 

are introduced, or remedial agents are instituted 
against this fearful tendency to insanity. 

The intellectual advancement of the human race 
has been very marked even within the past few de- 
cades, so that within the memory of those now living 
the whole theater of the activity of man has changed. 
Culture in its highest sense can not be confined to 
intellectual advancement ; nor can real progress for 
man be expressed in the race for wealth, extrava- 
gance, and selfish indulgence. None of these things 
necessarily elevates man beyond the sphere where 
the animal ego reigns supreme. Man may be a 
highly intellectual or a highly sensuous animal, 
but he is animal still, so long as self rules, and so 
long as selfish greed, no matter how -expressed, in- 
spires his efforts and shapes his ends. In his exulta- 
tion over the intellectual progress and material pros- 
perity of the age, man has forgotten his birthright 
and his immortal destiny. In " free and enlightened 
America " the struggle for life has been transferred 
from the physical to the mental realm. "When the 
country was new and sparsely settled the percentage 
of those who were engaged in manual labor or phys- 
ical pursuits was large, and literary pursuits and 
mental strain were the exception. The ruling passion 
in America to-day is to avoid manual labor, to secure 
wealth without toil, to indulge sensuous appetites, 
and in every way to promote selfish interests and 
aims. Mental strain has thus increased manifold, 



Sanity and Insanity. 255 

and bodily disease has given place to mental alienation 
and to the wreck of reason. The conservative and 
moderating influences of the old religions have been 
largely withdrawn, and in their place, to add to the 
mental strain and general confusion, have come that 
psychological babel, modern spiritualism, and that 
soul-destroying mildew, materialism. These innova- 
tions serve only to materialize all spiritual conceptions 
or tend to destroy all hope of better things, or kill out 
every noble aspiration of the soul. To add still fur- 
ther to the mental strain that the human mind must 
endure, so-called Christian science, rich in assertion 
and poor in good results, seems bent on crowding the 
mind, all unprepared as it is, into the subjective 
realm, the very highway to insanity. If any are dis- 
posed to regard this as a doleful picture let them 
refer to the statistics of insanity for the past decade, 
and if they will then but carefully consider the above 
bare outlines they will be forced to the conclusion 
that the half is not told. 

The perfect development of an individual and the 
complete harmony that constitutes the ideal life, and 
which is the only complete health of the human 
being, may seem to many an impossible attainment, 
and thus give rise to discouragement. Every well- 
meaning and earnestly-striving individual has only 
to remember that this ideal of health is none other 
than the ideal of religion, and that the effort to reach 
this ideal perfection is the effort to become Christ- 



256 A Study of Man. 

like. That this goal may be reached in the present 
life by but very few, is no reason for relinquishing all 
efforts toward its attainment ; for no such struggle 
can ever be in vain, and if life continues here or else- 
where under any conditions, it must bear with it the 
accumulated results of every earnest endeavor. 

The best that can be said of any imperfect indi- 
vidual is that his face is set in the right direction, and 
that he is striving toward perfection. He whose 
cycle of life is bounded by self and whose interests 
are all personal, no matter in what form or on what 
plane these interests may be expressed, is still teth- 
ered to the animal plane; he has not yet entered his 
inheritance nor claimed his birthright. The struct- 
ure and laws of action of the human brain, and the 
laws of the human mind all show that narrow views 
and selfish aims tend to unbalance and degrade the 
whole human being. The nature of man is complex 
in both structure and function, and a wide range of 
activities is therefore necessary to maintain its integ- 
rity. Nothing so dwarfs man as selfishness ; nothing 
so broadens and elevates man as sympathy. If one 
engages in specific manual labor for any great length 
of time, the bodily mechanism conforms to the nar- 
row range of activities and becomes deformed. If 
one follows a specific line of thought to the exclusion 
of all other mental exercise, the thoughts revolve in 
a circle that is continually narrowing, and the chan- 
nels of which are constantly deepening till the entire 



Sanity and Insanity. 257 

process becomes automatic. Other organs atrophy 
for ]ack of use, and the entire structure thus becomes 
unbalanced. Many persons are thus possessed ; only 
a few possess real knowledge. This condition of pos- 
session differs from monomania only in degree, and it 
is often thus only a question of time as to when real 
insanity will declare itself. There are four things 
that men most desire, namely: love, wealth, fame, 
and power. Greed for these narrows all individual 
life to the horizon of self, and the ravings of the in- 
sane might be classed as due to disappointment or 
even to success in one of these realms. Outside of 
the thousands of the actually insane, there are other 
thousands who are thus drifting directly toward the 
same goal, or who are laying the foundations deep 
and strong for insanity in the coming generations of 
men and women. If one will but study the encroach- 
ments of greed for gold through all its phases down 
to the condition where in the midst of plenty the 
miser dies from utter want ; if one will observe how 
slowly but surely every noble impulse gives place to 
the consuming passion, and how generosity shrivels 
as in a consuming fire, he can not fail to be convinced 
that selfishness at last, in every form, overreaches self, 
and leads inevitably to defeat and ruin. Selfishness 
is indeed the father of every vice, and vice destroys 
its votaries like a very moloch. 

The time has now fully come when our mental 
17 



258 A Study of Man, 

habits and intellectual states are of paramount im- 
portance. If the combined skill of the medical fra- 
ternity of the world is unable in any large degree to 
remove the results of mental vice and to restore the 
insane to intellectual health, it is time to inquire into 
the real cause of insanity, and to endeavor to find a 
method for its prevention. We continually measure 
what we call success in life by false standards. We 
are in urgent need of a sealer of weights and meas- 
ures in the intellectual and spiritual realm, to protect 
our own highest interests from the worst of frauds 
perpetrated by ourselves. This standard is indeed 
not wanting, but it has been so misinterpreted and so 
misapplied that it has become of no avail. This 
standard is revealed in the Sermon on the Mount, 
and it may be summed up in one word, altruism. 
Rites and ceremonies, creeds and genuflections, the 
devices of man, have set at naught this divine meas- 
ure of human conduct and human motive ; these have 
indeed reversed the divine decree, and put the com- 
mandments of man in place of the commandments 
of God, and we are now paying the penalty for diso- 
bedience. Protests against this view of the cause of 
all our ills will come alike from the bigoted church- 
man, from the selfish ritualist, and from the scoffing 
materialist. The father of lies has not only usurped 
the throne of the Son of Man, but he has intrenched 
himself in the very house of the Lord, and he has 
taken the very bread of the children and cast it to 



Sanity and Insanity. 259 

the dogs. Zeal for proselytes and religious propa- 
ganda are often but organized egotism, selfishness 
and conceit, masquerading in the holy name of relig- 
ion. No wonder that crime, disease and insanity run 
riot and threaten to decimate the human race. In 
the name of the sacred altars of religion, corporations 
of selfish men gather tithes and amass millions; 
while the poor go unhoused and the little children 
cry for bread. To complete the sacrilege and empha- 
size the awful sarcasm in the name of Him with seam- 
less garment and with no place to lay his weary head, 
this corporate selfishness expresses surprise and sor- 
row, and appoints seasons of fasting and prayer over 
the fact that the great hungry, surging masses of hu- 
manity turn away from the churches and scout with 
scorn the very name of religion ! This may possibly, 
by misinterpretation in certain quarters, be called a 
tirade against religion and the churches ; very well, 
my brother, call it what you will, but first inquire of 
your soul whether it is not true, and account to your 
conscience for the stewardship assumed in the name 
of the Christ. Nothing less than the truth will lift 
humanity out of the pit into which it has fallen, and 
restore man to health and sanity, and the truth must 
not only be told, but it must be lived by every one 
who assumes the name of teacher, and who thus be- 
comes his brother's keeper. If the sacerdotalism of 
the world would follow the example of a Tolstoi and 
distribute its hoarded treasure among the poor, then 



260 A Study of Man. 

would suffering and want be for a time at least un- 
known, and the sad face of humanity would reflect 
the divine radiance of Him who preached the gospel 
of benevolence to the poor. These hoarded millions 
lie between the great orphan, Humanity, and the 
cross of Christ. If there is selfishness in high places, 
what wonder that the ignorant masses worship the 
golden calf? Insanity and imbecility are fast de- 
vouring the royal blood of the old world so that the 
ravings of the maniac and the gibberish of idiocy are 
heard from palace to hovel, and insanity goes hand in 
hand with plague and pestilence. 

The sanity of the human race is impossible in the 
face of physical degeneracy. Whatever anchors man 
to the animal plane tends to degenerate and bestial- 
ize. The one animal attribute that can thus degrade 
man is animal egotism or selfishness. The prevention 
of insanity therefore depends largely on the diffusion 
and exercise of the principle of unselfishness. The 
spiritual redemption of the human race is impossible 
in the face of disease of body and mind. The physi- 
cal, intellectual and spiritual elements in the life of 
man are inseparable. There was never an individual 
who was spiritually pure and perfect, and who at the 
same time was mentally unsound and physically dis- 
eased; and there never will be such an individual. 
We send missionaries to the heathen while crime 
walks red-handed through our streets ; we build hos- 
pitals for the sick and sanitariums for the insane, and 



Sanity and Insanity. 261 

mania and other mental diseases multiply in the 
land. Large masses of intelligent men and women 
vote religion a fraud, and life a failure, and declare 
that they do not know or do not care what comes 
after this life. 

It is high time that every well-wisher of the hu- 
man race should turn his attention to the nature of 
man and his mission on earth. The cause of our ills 
is not far to seek. All efforts to pry into the condi- 
tions of another state of existence have practically 
proved failures; and we may as well go to work in 
earnest to see what can be made out of the present life 
and its varied opportunities. Mental and nervous 
diseases will recede and insanity will lessen just in 
proportion to the broadening of our vision and the 
extension of our beneficence. Our idols must be de- 
throned and we must move to higher planes of life, 
and by breaking down the walls of selfishness we 
shall discover more exalted ideals, develop finer senses, 
enter on a new line of experiences, and begin to real- 
ize the life that is divine. Sanity will there be the 
hand-maid of health, and disease and insanity will 
return to the swine to be choked by the receding 
wave of animalism which will then no longer degrade 
the human race, or dethrone human reason. The 
children of men will be clothed and fed ; they will be 
healthy and sane ; and as the agent of divine Provi- 
dence a regenerated humanity will then embody the 
Christ. "We must pray with hands full of burdens, 



262 A Study of Man. 

with hearts full of sympathy and with feet bent on 
missions of charity. The leper and the insane will 
then be known at sight as he who is walled in by 
self , and whose little soul is unable to scale the walls 
which he has built by his own greed, and who is unable 
to draw the bolts and bars which he has forged in 
darkness while avoiding the light of charity and 
love. Health will then echo the harmony of nature, 
and sanity will reflect the Divine Intelligence. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION OF MAN. 

In a work of this character where it is undertaken 
to handle familiar facts in an unfamiliar manner, 
where relations are traced that are often overlooked, 
and where co-ordinate results are pointed out not gen- 
erally supposed to exist, a considerable number of 
repetitions are unavoidable. More especially is this 
the case in the present instance where a single mod- 
ulus is discerned as underlying the whole of nature, 
and therefore including man. It is necessary in the 
present case to refer frequently to this modulus, and 
to point out its varied forms of application. Thus 
the same principle will be stated in various forms 
which are reducible to the same result, for only in 
this way can the universality of the modulus be made 
apparent. The principles of involution and evolu- 
tion have been frequently applied in the way of illus- 
tration, as also to illustrate special groups of facts. 
If these two principles are the inseparable poles of 
one law, and if that law is basic and universal, it 
might seem necessary to take a somewhat broader 
view of the law itself than is to be derived from any 
special application. 

No intelligent student of nature at the present 

(263) 



264 A Study of Man. 

time, at all familiar witli the large groups of facts 
in physics and biology constituting the theater in 
which evolution is thought to play so large a part, 
will be found ignoring or entirely denying the evolu- 
tionary theory. No intelligent biologist familiar 
with the ordinary facts of human physiology will for 
a moment deny that the outer unfolding of the body 
of man from germ to prime is an evolution, according 
to any fair interpretation of facts and an intelligent 
comprehension of the principle under consideration. 
Evolution as a fact, is every- where admitted; the 
ground of disagreement is in the application and in- 
terpretation of the law. In other words the difficulty 
is not in regard to facts or laws, not in science or phi- 
losophy per se, but in the minds of men who variously 
consider and diversely interpret nature ; and were it 
not for the fact that evolution has been supposed to 
explain the origin of man from lower forms of life, 
and so apparently to antagonize divine revelation, it is 
doubtful if any one would think of questioning the 
law any more than that of gravitation. 

The most pronounced opponents of the application 
of evolution to the origin of man seem to have mis- 
apprehended this application as suggested by the 
leading advocates of the theory of evolution. This 
misapprehension has been so often and even so re- 
cently pointed out by leading scientists, and more- 
over made so plaki to every unbiased mind that it 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 265 

would here be out of place to go into details. It 
may be here noted, however, that opposition has 
been shown to the various attempts that have been 
made to show the evolution of religious belief, from 
the fact that with most persons individual belief is 
inseparable from original revelation, and this they re- 
gard as directly of divine origin. The idea that a di- 
vine revelation may unfold under natural law seems 
here to have been overlooked. 

So far as we are now concerned with evolution, its 
application and interpretation only are involved. 
Evolution being every- where admitted as a fact, it is 
applied to two separate groups of phenomena. In 
the growth and development of individual forms of 
life it is generally admitted with but slight quali- 
fication. In the progressive unfolding of species, and 
in the progressive advancement of man through 
lower organisms, it is frequently denied — not always 
denied as a factor, but as being sufficient to account 
for all results. The question then presents itself in 
this wise : Does that law or process which every- 
where unfolds or elaborates individual organisms, 
flowing outward, and expanding from center to sur- 
face, also push the whole complex series of earth's 
organisms upward from lower to higher forms ? To 
this inquiry one party answers unhesitatingly in 
the negative, the other answers in the affirmative 
with certain concomitants and qualifications. 

Here again it would be out of place to go over the 



266 A Study of Man. 

ground involved in the discussion, as many volumes 
have already been written on the subject by leading 
advocates of either side with the result of bringing 
the factions no nearer together than before, as each 
party in turn claims the victory over the other. 

Looking now at the processes of nature and of life 
as a whole, no one on either side will deny evolution 
in toto, and no one will deny that it has greatly aided 
in the interpretation of natural processes. Looking 
again at the processes of nature and of life as a 
whole, there is another law discernible, operating 
equally and consistently with that of evolution, 
and capable, when equally well apprehended, of 
reconciling all the above-named discrepancies and 
disagreements. If evolution is indeed true, and is 
more or less a factor in all processes as is generally 
admitted, any other law or process discovered, or 
hereafter to be discovered, must be capable of recon- 
ciliation with evolution, and must be shown to work 
in harmony with it, when the range and application 
of both laws are understood. This concept and basis 
of agreement is perfectly consistent with the sequence ■ 
of all scientific discovery. 

Because evolution has been the first to receive rec- 
ognition, it by no means follows that it has forever 
pre-empted all the ground, particularly as it is not 
generally claimed for it that it explains all processes 
in nature. No one claims this much for evolution, 
therefore ; every sincere seeker for the real truth 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 267 

ought to welcome any suggestion from whatsoever 
quarter that promises a reconciliation of beliefs, and 
a further and more consistent apprehension of nature. 
All processes in nature, whether inorganic or organic, 
present themselves to the mind as an equation to be 
solved. In all physical problems, whether in applied 
mechanics or in nature at large, there is the problem 
of the parallelogram of forces, whereby the direction 
and force of momentum is determined, and whence 
equilibrium results. Without this law even the ap- 
parent stability of forms in the midst of unceasing 
change would be impossible. Thus contentions re- 
sult in compromise, and discordant elements unite to 
produce harmony. There are the dual conditions of 
centrifugal and centripetal forces, of cohesion and 
disruption, of attraction and repulsion every-where 
recognized. There is behind all of these the problem 
of mass or inertia over against all tendency produc- 
ing movement of mass, or the inherent relation of 
matter and force. This duality runs through the 
whole phenomenal display of nature as the basic idea 
of our concept of atoms, and in the genesis and phe- 
nomena of all life. 

Duality and manifestation are synonymous terms ; 
either term suggests the other. All problems of life, as 
all problems in nature, present themselves, therefore, 
under this form of duality. No principle is more 
widely recognized than this, as in one form or another 
it is the basis of the higher mathematics which enter 



268 A Study of Man. 

the realm of nature's highest display, and calculate 
not only the application of principles to mechanics, 
but determine the revolutions of suns and planets, 
and the changes of times and seasons. 

The central idea in evolution is the natural se- 
quence and co-ordinate relations of all processes in 
nature. The evolution hypothesis alone does not 
satisfactorily reveal these relations and determine 
this sequence. The unfolding of germs in the veg- 
etable and the animal kingdoms is every-where recog- 
nized as the process whereby individual organisms 
arise. Evolution here recognizes the duality above 
referred to, first, under the terms heredity and en- 
vironment ; and second, it recognises the fact that the 
individual at any stage of development is an adjust- 
ment of these two sets of factors. The personality 
of man is, at any moment from germ to death, the re- 
sult of all that he has inherited, and all that he has 
acquired. Here, however, the process by which in- 
heritance is derived, is not the same process by which 
subsequent acquirement is brought about. In fact 
these two processes are exactly the opposite of the 
other. That which is derived is drawn in ; that 
which is evolved is drawn out. These two processes 
are to and from the center of life in germ or man. 
It is true that evolution recognizes the element of 
progress in the presence of the apparent persistence 
of forms, types, and species, and recognizes some ele- 
ment that tends to push forward all life to higher 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 269 

planes and toward more perfect ideals, and endeavors 
to account for improvement by the principle of natu- 
ral selection and that of the survival of the fittest; 
and no doubt these principles are concerned in deter- 
mining results. These principles, however, on the 
one hand prove too much, and on the other are in- 
adequate to account for the ideal forms toward which 
nature every-where and continually strives. In the 
case of man these principles of variation without an 
underlying modulus, are quite sufficient to have long 
ago modified him out of existence. Natural selection 
and the principle of the survival of the fittest no 
doubt have a great deal to do in determining con- 
formity to types, and may modify and improve pre- 
existing forms; but they could never have originated 
the ideals which are thus progressively unfolded. 

In spite of the ebb and flow of life, the wax and 
wane of civilizations, the rise and fall of empires, 
there is some element that not only preserves the hu- 
man type, but pushes it continually toward a higher 
ideal, and through all lower forms of life there is 
a prophesying of man; an overshadowing of the 
human form descends to the lowest types of or- 
ganic life, as a still higher ideal overshadows man 
himself. The theory of natural selection and that 
of the survival of the fittest fail entirely to account 
for this overshadowing ideal. Even the worm at our 
feet is thus climbing the mount of transfiguration. 

Nature reveals in all her processes one divine ideal 



270 A Study of Man. 

man. This ideal descends from man to the lowest 
form of life, and ascends from man to the perfect 
archetype. It has been shown elsewhere in these 
pages that the lower forms of life contain elements of 
man's nature both in form and function. It is as 
though the individual qualities of man were sepa- 
rately embodied in living forms. As we approach 
higher forms in the lower animals these qualities are 
grouped together. Every quality therefore may be 
conceived as existing separately, and every possible 
variation below man may be conceived as result- 
ing from combination. As the series approaches 
man the likeness becomes more complete. Man thus 
epitomizes the organic life of the earth. The lower 
animals are fragmentary human beings ; the higher 
animals are rudimentary human beings. Unless the 
sequence of nature stops with man, man is a rudi- 
mentary being of a still higher, or more perfect form. 

Viewing now all of Nature's handiwork within 
the range of human ken, all physical processes, from 
the busy play of atoms, to the revolutions of suns 
and worlds, all organic processes from monera to 
man, the growth of a single germ, the modification 
of species, the progress of the human race, and bear- 
ing in mind the duality of all processes, and the bi- 
unity of all manifestations, we find the operation of a 
two-fold law corresponding to the universal duality ; 
this two-fold law is Involution and Evolution. 

In all physical processes moving outward from cen- 



Involution and Evolution of Man, 271 

ter to surface, in all organic processes, unfolding from 
germ to organism the process is evolution. This is 
just one-half the process, one member of nature's 
equation. Every play of forces, every display of pro- 
cesses, from center to surface is met and balanced 
point by point, in atom or sun, in germ or organism, 
in plant, animal, or man, by an opposite impulse 
from surface to center. The overshadowing ideal 
form thus reaches and is impressed upon the life- 
center, and furnishes thus the plan and specifications 
for the building that is evolved. Evolution is thus 
balanced by involution. This is the universal pro- 
cess in the solution of the cosmic equation. 

The recognition of this dual law is the reconcilia- 
tion of Science aud Religion. If we call evolution 
materialistic, we may with equal propriety call invo- 
lution spiritualistic, and neither term can be con- 
strued into a reproach. We know no more of the 
real essence of the one than of the other. Wc recog- 
nize the manifestation of matter and spirit as the 
two poles of being, spirit being involved and matter 
evolved; these two meet and blend in all created 
forms. The one gives power and ideal form, the 
other, structure. 

From the dawn of life on the earth to the present 
moment, from the beginning of the unfolding of 
every germ to the complete development of the or- 
ganism one Divine Idea overshadows and is progress- 
ively involved in every living thing. If evolution is 



272 A Study of Man. 

seen in any instance as a vis a tergo, involution ap- 
pears as a vis a fronte. In the apparent striving of 
nature, all creation tends to the emhodiment of the 
Divine Idea through the evolving of the living form, 
and these forms strive continually toward the modu- 
lus, man, impelled thereto by the in-dwelling, and 
overshadowing of the Divine Idea. 

Nature is not then soul-less nor God-less. Involu- 
tion is as rational and as thinkable as evolution. 
"What Nature and Soul and God are, in their es- 
sence, we do not know. All that man knows is 
revealed through man himself. These things to 
us are our ideas of them, no more and no less. 
The thing in itself is in every case beyond us, and 
we know no more of the real essence of an atom, 
than of the being of God. We can comprehend 
God only as we involve the divine idea and evolve 
the divine life. The center in us of these two 
groups of experiences is where God and Nature meet 
m self-consciousness. The expansion of this center 
is understanding ; the illumination of this center is 
conscience ; and the harmonious adjustment of God 
and Nature in us is at-one-ment. The divine like- 
ness is at-one with the Divine. 

The question then for us, is not who builds, but 
how is cosmos built ? Our idea of the Great Archi- 
tect is no longer extra-cosmic, but intra-cosmic. In 
place of what Carlyle calls an " absentee God, doing 
nothing since the first sabbath, but sitting on the out- 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 273 

side of creation and seeing it go," we have the idea 
of the immanence of creative energy, creative power, 
and creative design in every blade of grass, no less 
than in animal and in man. !Not an infinitesimal 
atom can escape this divine immanence any more 
than it can transcend the bounds of nature. If in our 
human idea God is infinite, then nature is boundless. 
God is at the center and Mature at the surface. These 
are the essence and the substance, the ideal and the 
real, unity in diversity, diversity in unity, and dual- 
ity in bi-unity. These are Father-God, and Mother- 
JSTature. "After His likeness created He him male 
and female. Male and female created He them." 
Man-Woman are then the two poles of the One 
Being. Man is concerned only with the present life 
and the present time. Self-consciousness is for man 
the ever-present now; now is his opportunity; now, 
the appointed time. Man has no more present con- 
cern with a world to come than with the worlds that 
are past. Past and future are related to man, the 
self-conscious ego, but they are not the ego itself. To 
ignore or despise our present opportunities, either 
from motives of worldliness or other-worldliness, is 
equally subversive of the highest and best interests 
of man. For man to ignore his present interests on 
the one hand, or to relegate them to another state of 
existence on the other, overshadowed by the fear of 
death and the terrors of superstition, is in either case 
18 



274 A Study of Man. 

to barter his birthright, and to miss the full meaning 
of life. To ignore our highest present interests is 
to be time-serving. To relegate these interests to 
another sphere of being with the expectation of 
greater gain is to be self-serving, and these are but 
different forms of the same animal egotism. The 
religious ideals of the earth's benighted millions are 
ingrained selfishness, and these ideals reflected back 
in time and worked out in the lives of men have re- 
sulted in man's inhumanity to man, while the formu- 
lated motive of glory to God, has disguised the ul- 
terior object of glory to self. The difficulty lies not 
with true religion but in the selfishness of man, and 
man is as selfish in his religion as in all things else. 

If all lower forms of life prophesy of man, so is 
man on each successive plane of being prophetic of a 
higher state. All natures strive in man, because he 
has reached tbe human plane into which the light of 
that which lies just beyond pours in a never-failing 
stream, while the light from the human plane illu- 
mines all below. Man thus focalizes the plane below 
and the plane above him, and all antagonisms thus 
resulting are but manifestations of the impulse al- 
ready referred to, pushing man in common with all 
nature to higher, and still higher planes. From the 
dregs of animal life man has derived the principle of 
animal egotism. From the plane next above him, 
man dimly discerns the divine principle of altruism. 
Man is thus but one-half human, and by the time he 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 275 

has become wholly human, or altogether humane, he 
will have become half divine ; for so does one nature 
overlap the other, and he advances into the higher 
nature, only as he shakes off the lower. Forever a 
pilgrim, man must drop the load of sin before he can 
pass the golden gates that lead to the delectable 
mountains ; and he drops the load as he journeys 
on, while sorely pressed, and not during hours of 
ease and refreshment. When he is conscious that 
his load has vanished, lo ! his enlightenment has al- 
ready come. Life is thus its own elixir, and its office 
is transfiguration. 

All over the world we hear the word, humanity. 
Benevolent enterprises are every- where set on foot, 
and humanitarian societies are every-where organ- 
ized. This humane impulse, even when misdirected, 
is still the dawning of the divine in man, the forget- 
ting of self for others, the advancement of altruism 
over egotism. For science and civilization on the 
one hand, and for so-called religion on the other, to 
claim all the credit for this dawning of the higher 
life, is to confess embodied and organized egotism, 
nothing more. The impulse bringing about this re- 
sult is older than all religions, deeper than all sci- 
ences, broader than all civilizations, higher than all 
heavens. It is the Divine Spirit animating and ele- 
vating all nature. 

The humane impulse in individuals is the true sign 
of advancement from egotism to altruism, from the 



276 A Study of Man. 

animal, through the human, toward the divine. This 
is indeed an education in the highest sense, but not 
in the ordinary sense as the term is apprehended. 
What we call culture, may be as one-sided and selfish 
as any other acquirement of man. Here as else- 
where man may have an eye only to the main chance, 
to the best opportunity for himself in intellectual 
matters as in money matters. Strife and competition 
here as elsewhere often take unfair advantage and 
trample down the weak as unmercifully as in the 
halls of trade, or in the public mart. Whenever and 
wherever one must lose in order that another may 
gain, all profit becomes plunder, howsoever protected 
by law or glossed over by so-called usage and re- 
spectability. Popular education, mere intellectual ac- 
quirement, often ministers to pride and self-conceit, 
and therefore belongs to selfish egotism. Intellectual 
pride is no more altruistic than purse-pride. To the 
selfish and time-serving, altruism has no other mean- 
ing than the giving up of the present advantage, 
with the somewhat uncertain prospect of a greater 
advantage to be derived hereafter. The idea of re- 
wards and punishments is inseparable from self. To 
forego self-indulgence here in order to secure greater 
self-indulgence and more exclusive privileges here- 
after, for the poor and despised here to change places 
with rich and honored there, leaves the sum of human 
misery the same, and no such philosophy has ever ad-. 
vanced mankind one step toward divine altruism 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 277 

Hence it was shown a little way back that the devout 
and the time-serving may he on the same plane. We 
are not placed in this world merely to give it up for 
a better or a worse one, just as jockeys trade horses. 
Life may be likened to an orchard laden with fruit. 
We enter it hungry and famishing. Suppose that we 
pass from tree to tree and eating none, thinking that 
the next tree will produce more luscious fruit and 
repay us for waiting, till we have passed through the 
orchard, and the gates close behind us, the night 
comes on and we fall famished in the darkness, dying, 
and bewailing our folly and our wasted opportunities ; 
surely we would be fools indeed. Suppose we again 
enter the orchard with the thought that any of the 
fruit is good enough as we see it bending every 
bough ; suppose we see all around us children who 
can not reach the branches where hang the choicest 
specimens ; suppose we find there the weak, the sick, 
the crippled, and the blind who have not power to 
help themselves, and suppose we reach out our strong 
arms in every direction and gather all that we see, 
trampling down even the little children in our greed, 
and reaching the highest branches from the broken 
bodies of the sick and starving, and so gathering all 
the choicest fruit into our own garners suppose we pro- 
tect it by law and set watch-dogs at every avenue of 
approach, and finally starve ourselves at last through 
fear of decreasing our store ; surely again we would 
be fools indeed. This is the parable of the quails 



278 A Study of Man. 

and the manna by which a stiff-necked and rebellious 
people were taught. In these two hypotheses the re- 
sult is the same; selfishness defeats self and ends in 
failure here and every-where ; and selfishness is not 
altruism, even when transferred to the celestial king- 
dom. 

" Mine and thine " is an inheritance from animal 
egotism. " The earth is the Lords, and the fullness 
thereof," and there is enough in this fair earth for all 
humanity if the strong will only aid the weak. Al- 
truism gathers that it may give, and delights more to 
give than to gather. Man is the almoner of the di- 
vine, and he who is permitted to give is far more 
blessed and more bound to give thanks than he who 
is compelled to receive charity. He who thus forget- 
teth self, remembers God. Not a far off " absentee 
God," but the God immanent in all his works, whose 
Altar is the human soul, and whose Providence is the 
human hand. 

If religion was the first to announce " Peace on 
earth and good-will to man," superstition stood ready 
to obscure and make it of no effect. Wherever re- 
ligion built her altars, superstition lit her fires of per- 
secution equally in the holy name of Deity, and so 
the most atrocious cruelties have been perpetrated in 
the name of God. Even to-clay the conditions are 
unchanged. Christendom builds magnificent churches 
to save souls, and magnificent iron-clads to destroy 
men. If the money devoted to these two purposes 



Involution and Evolution of Man. 279 

alone were distributed among the poor, hunger and 
want would disappear from the Christian world. If 
the rich and prosperous were really altruistic, the 
poor and oppressed would not be communistic. The 
rich and the poor, therefore, are arrayed against each 
other because egotism is forever at war with altru- 
ism, because the animal is hostile to the divine in 
man. 

It may thus be seen that in the higher problems 
that concern the well-being of man, involution and 
evolution are equal factors, and that through this 
two-fold law the entire nature of man is compre- 
hended. Science working upward, and religion work- 
ing downward come to the same conclusions, and are 
therefore reconciled. The sequence of evolution, and 
the sequence of involution meet in the conscious ego, 
revealing to man his own nature, and the principles 
upon which his progress toward divinity depends. 
Divine altruism is thus revealed, not as a mere mat- 
ter of sentimentality, nor as speculative philosophy, 
but as the one principle in all its bearings that ele- 
vates man above the brute, and that enters the con- 
scious life of man as the divinity that shapes his ends, 
inspires his life, and realizes his destiny. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE HIGHER SELF. 

The modulus of nature, or the pattern after which 
she every-where builds and toward which she contin- 
ually strives, is an Ideal or Archetypal Man. 

This universal ideal has been frequently referred to 
in the preceding pages as the key to many mysteries. 
Something yet remains to be said in regard to this 
ideal, for if it removes many obscurities in the work 
of nature, it also illumines the pages of revelation, 
and gives to religion a meaning commensurate with 
life and time ; nay, more, it reaches beyond the veil 
that separates the world of matter from the world of 
spirit, and reveals the conditions of consciousness in 
a higher plane of being. 

The evidence of the truth of such revelations lies 
in the co-ordinate relations of all human experience 
to consciousness. The futility of all discussion re- 
garding the immortality of the soul that does not 
begin with some definite idea as to the nature and 
origin of the soul is every-where apparent. If it be 
urged that divine revelation has already settled this 
question, it may be answered, that with those who 
accept such revelation as divine, and therefore au- 
thoritative, there comes endless confusion in the ap~ 
(280) 



The Higher Self. 281 

plication and interpretation of revelation to indi- 
vidual belief and personal life. Over against the be- 
lief in immortality and in supreme happiness awaiting 
a select few of the human race, is the belief that a 
large proportion of human beings designated as the 
kicked shall be destroyed or shall exist in eternal 
torment. Most religionists thus divide the human 
race ; but most confusing of all is the estimate of the 
exact conditions that are to determine the above 
classification. The result has often been that one 
class of religionists assign to the dark side of the 
equation all other members of the human race, while 
the first class are considered as doomed by all the 
others. This condition of things is the legitimate 
outgrowth of the fact, that modern belief undertakes 
to hold by ancient creeds, forgetting that both belief 
and creed are the work of man, and while they are 
claimed as derived from the sacred revelation, they 
are not a necessary part of it. It may thus be seen 
that the fault does not belong to religion nor to reve- 
lation per se, but that it belongs wholly to man. 
Until man has learned to distinguish between revela- 
tion, and his own or other men's interpretations of 
revelation, he has not taken the first step in the way 
of understanding any religion, and least of all, his 
own. 

The result of the confusion above noted, has "been 
to separate nominal Christians into three classes : 
namely, materialists, agnostics, and enthusiasts. The 



282 A Study of Man. 

first class deny the so-called immortality of the soul. 
The second class say they do not know, and while 
they are inclined to doubt, they are, or intend to be, 
non-committal. The third class refuse to examine or 
discuss the question, but take it on faith, and feel the 
assurance within them ; and these are by far the most 
happy and the most to be envied. Unfortunately all 
persons are not thus enthusiasts, nor can all of us 
silence the voice of reason, nor suppress the interro- 
gations that continually arise. The enthusiast cuts 
all knots that theologians have devised, brushes aside 
all contradiction^ and mystifications, and at a single 
bound seizes hold of the goodness of God, determined 
to win heaven by simple faith and obedience. The 
number of nominal Christians far outnumbers these 
real Christians who are consistent so far as enthusi- 
asm can be consistent in any thing. 

In the face of all these conditions there has arisen 
of late years an unusual interest in all psychological 
studies, and few nominal Christians can deny that at 
one time or another they have consulted one having 
a familiar spirit, in the hope of getting a few grains 
of real knowledge with which to fortify their waning 
faith. What man or woman is there above the intel- 
ligence of the poor imbecile, who does not desire 
a completely satisfactory answer to the question? 
If a man die, shall he live again, and how, and 
where? Many no doubt still take this matter in 
faith, but few are thus satisfied. Few, indeed, who 



The Higher Self. 283 

have strong ties of affection, and who find the path- 
way of life hroken by open graves, are thus easily 
reconciled. 

The present writer would divert the discussion 
from the question of the immortality of the soul, to 
that of the existence and nature of the soul that is to 
be lost or saved, that is to continue beyond the grave, 
or to cease at the death of the body. If the lines 
of study herein suggested shall remove a great deal 
of obscurity and so lead up to the other question 
with clearer apprehension of the nature of the prob- 
lem, something will be gained. The terms, soul and 
spirit, have been so long used indiscriminately, and 
have been used to express the most diverse and fan- 
tastic ideas of innumerable persons, that it would be 
found exceedingly difficult now to attach any definite 
meaning to them. This is rendered still more diffi- 
cult from the fact that very many persons now-a-days 
deny the existence of either a soul or a spirit in man, 
regarding all of man's powers as an affection of mat- 
ter due to organization. But no one will deny the 
fact of his own consciousness. ~Ho one can fail to 
recognize certain conditions of consciousness in rela- 
tion to thought, feeling, emotion, desire, and will. 
]STo one will claim to have exhausted the whole range 
of human experience, or to have completely compre- 
hended any subject. Every one can see that while the 
avenues of sense are many, consciousness is the one 
center toward which all sensations proceed. If con- 



284 JL Study of Man, 

sciousness be thus seen to be the central fact of man's 
being, and that through which all planes and condi- 
tions of life are related, then if man has a soul, or a 
spirit, consciousness must be the central fact of the 
soul, as of the bodily life of man. If the physical 
body is thus viewed as the vehicle of consciousness 
on the objective plane, the soul may be considered as 
the vehicle of consciousness on the subjective or 
spiritual plane. If man's experience here and now 
can be shown to be derived from both the natural 
and the spiritual planes, then the soul is within the 
body, and consciousness within the soul. If con- 
sciousness is within the soul, and the soul is within 
the body, then the body is the theater in which to 
study both soul and consciousness. If man's experi- 
ence is his sole method of knowing and becoming, 
and if his experience now is derived from both the 
natural and the spiritual worlds, and if consciousness 
in man is thus open or may become open to the spir- 
itual or subjective world, then the present life and the 
human body present the opportunity for study of 
man's life and experience in the spiritual world. If 
all experience of the natural world reaches conscious- 
ness through the bodily avenues of sense, and if the 
body and its avenues were destroyed or removed, 
leaving the soul, so to speak, naked, then any expe- 
rience reaching consciousness thereafter would pass 
through the soul only, and so reach consciousness in- 
dependent of physical avenues of sense. It has been 



The Higher Self. 285 

shown herein that the body of man is conscious as a 
whole, and that of this diffused consciousness, self- 
consciousness is the center. At death both conscious- 
ness and self-consciousness leave the body. The soul 
then, the organ of self-consciousness, in passing to 
the subjective plane changes the basis of experience, 
and receives impressions direct, instead of through 
channels of sense. If consciousness now, while in 
the body, receives impressions from the subjective 
plane independent of the avenues of sense, there is 
nothing to hinder it from continuing to receive such 
impressions, and in larger measure after the body is 
thrown off. Consciousness may be seen to be related 
to time and sense, and yet not dependent upon these 
for its existence. 

It may thus be seen that a knowledge of the planes 
and conditions of consciousness in man, here and 
now, is the only way by which man can really know 
any thing of a future life, and that this knowledge of 
the planes and conditions of consciousness can only 
be gained by experience. In this way only can the 
gap between the present and any future life be 
bridged. We must experience the divine life in 
order to know that it exists, just as we must experi- 
ence the natural life in order to know that it exists, 
and in either case the range of our experience is the 
measure of our knowledge. 

Man's real knowledge is thus limited by his 
experience, and as this in any or all directions is 



286 A Study of Man. 

necessarily limited, man knows nothing as it is, but 
only as revealed through his own partial experience ; 
that is to say, he has his own partial and limited 
ideas of things. Man has thus an idea of God, of 
nature, and of himself. Man has only the least idea 
of that with which he is most familiar, namely, him- 
self. If man could hut know himself, he would 
speedily change his idea of both God and nature. 
The reason why man knows so little of himself, is 
because his vision is circumscribed by the narrow 
bounds of his own selfishness. He is thus anchored 
blindly to that animal egotism whence he came, and 
discerns not that divine altruism toward which he 
tends. Man thus narrows the range of his experi- 
ence, and precludes the possibility of knowledge, and 
he will make nature's ideals conform to .his own nar- 
row ideas. 

It is thus that man has an idea of God, and this 
idea takes on "two forms, or is derived from two 
groups of experiences. Man views external nature, 
the phenomenal world of matter, force, motion and 
shapes existing in space and time. He sees the 
mighty sun and all the heavenly orbs rolling in space, 
the green earth putting forth blossom and fruit, and, 
again cold and barren in winter. He sees the huge 
leviathan sporting in ocean deeps, and again the or- 
ganism whose theater of life is a drop of water, and 
through all these he discovers system and order. 
The seasons come and go ; nature blossoms and de^ 



The Higher Self, 287 

cays. Reflecting in all of these, the rolling thunder, 
the flashing lightning, the movements of life, the 
order through all, and the power over all — an unseen 
power behind a visible nature — man derives thence 
an idea of God, and this idea thus derived is pure 
pantheism. 

Man derives his idea of God through another 
source. Looking inward into his own soul and 
taking cognizance of his own mysterious nature 
filled with hopes and fears, with joy and sorrow, 
aspiring, despairing, ferocious in hate, yet gentle 
in love, he thus realizes his own personality. Man 
thus finds power without and power within, mys- 
tery without and mystery within, and he thus 
adds to his pantheistic idea derived from external 
nature the anthropomorphic idea derived from him- 
self, and he calls this idea a Personal God. Now let 
us suppose that this idea of personality were derived 
from a perfect man, then the ideal man would be the 
Personality of God. We should then have a nature- 
God and a man-God derived from the conception of a 
perfect personality. This idea would be strengthened 
and elevated, if one who had attained this human 
perfection were known to us, or clearly represented 
to us. Such an one would be henceforth our ideal 
man, God revealed to us through human perfection. 
If now the manner of life of such an one were re- 
vealed to us, and the means by which he had achieved 
perfection, then the possibility of our attaining to 



288 A Study of Man. 

such, perfection would be beyond all things inspiring. 
No personal God can be revealed to us except through 
man. 

Nature to us seems wrathful and all-devouring, and 
the natural man outdoes even nature in cruelty and 
destruction. The Divine man is full of all sweet 
charities, tender, merciful, loving and approachable. 
He calls himself, brother ; he enters the lowest estate 
that the poor and despised may claim fellowship with 
him, and sickness, sorrow and sin disappear at his ap- 
proach. If these attributes reveal the personality of 
God, as a divine altruism, a tender sympathy for all 
human woe, and a strong helpfulness for all human 
weakness, then this ideal reflected back on man's idea, 
reveals the higher-self in man, and it reveals the 
means by which the higher-self may be realized. 

We are here dealing with man's idea of God. Here 
profane history is to be entirely ignored as having no 
bearing on the externals of either the Christ or scrip- 
ture. Neither has any discussion of the conception 
or birth of the man Jesus any thing to do with the 
matter. The immaculate conception of a human be- 
ing is something that can not be understood and need 
not be discussed. The mystery of Christ must be 
sought in another direction if it is ever to be unveiled 
to the human understanding. The mystery of Christ 
to man is the mystery of the perfect to the imperfect. 
It is the mystery of the realized Divine Ideal to the 
imperfect human idea. 



The Higher Self. 289 

Christ is called "the only begotten Son of the 
Father." Let us suppose that from the bosom of nat- 
ure in the fullness of time there was to emerge a per- 
fect, ideal man, that the Infinite Power behind all 
phenomena had from the beginning this archetypal 
man in view, and that the purpose of all life was to 
realize this ideal, not once for all but every- where as 
the ultimate of all forms. The ideal man, Christ, 
was thus with God from the foundation of the 
world. Christ being thus the Divine Idea realized, 
man is a divine idea unrealized, or in process of 
being realized. The only begotten of the Father, 
are thus perfect men, and the perfect man is em- 
bodied altruism. This method of viewing Christos 
may seem to the reader heterodox ; but if he will bear 
in mind that the only way by which mankind has 
been able to reconcile the God-idea and the Christ- 
idea is by the interposition of an incomprehensible 
mystery, he may find that the mystery here interposed 
between these two ideas is not beyond comprehen- 
sion : namely, the mystery of the perfect ideal man 
to the imperfect man. Without changing the facts 
this view brings God, and Christ, and man nearer to- 
gether. The inconsiderate will moreover object that 
this idea makes Christ out to be only a man. But it 
can not be said that a perfect man is only a man. We 
have already shown that one plane of life overshad- 
ows another, and that the perfect man involves the 
19 



290 A Study of Man. 

divine and thus realizes the divine ideal. It is thus 
the God in man that perfects him. 

Let us briefly consider what view this idea suggests 
of the nature and mission of man as we find him in 
the world to-day. The perfect man so far as he is 
related to time and phenomenal existence, is of slow 
growth. He is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with' 
grief; he is to be tried and tempted at all points, so 
that knowing all evil, he may consciously and delib- 
erately prefer all good ; he is through experience thus 
to become a conscious center of goodness, wisdom 
and power. Thus accomplishing the divine will and 
becoming the divine ideal, man arrives at perfection. 
In another section it has been shown that by the time 
man becomes altogether human, or humane, through 
altruism, he has become half-divine, having elimin- 
ated the ammal egotism. The further unfolding of 
the divinely human man by which he arrives at per- 
fection concerns the unfolding of consciousness on the 
subjective or spiritual plane of being, and the as- 
sumption of those powers that Christ predicated for 
them that believe. 

The perfect man is a co-worker with God. His 
members no longer war with each other, and he is 
thus at-one with God. The attainment of perfection 
is thus the reconciliation of the human to the divine. 
If this ideal perfection has been even once realized 
and if the experiences of life be regarded as a jour-* 
ney toward it, the brotherhood of Christ to man has 



The Higher Self. 291 

a real meaning. But if Christ is God in some other, 
far-away and unapproachable sense, then Christ can 
be little to us. 

The scriptures reveal an ideal man as one who had 
attained to all perfection, in whom dwelt all the full- 
ness of the God-head embodied. The man-Jesus 
was crucified; the God-Christ was glorified, and so it 
is every- where, and at all times; the crucifixion of 
the human is the enthronement of the divine. 

The whole aim and meaning of human life thus 
becomes a continual striving after ideal manhood and 
ideal womanhood. Just as all lower life climbs to- 
ward humanity, so humanity climbs toward divinity. 
In the scriptures Christ is the embodiment of altru- 
ism, as Satan is the embodiment of egoism. Each is 
an ideal, the one placed over against the other that 
man may not err in his choice of methods or of ends. 
Christ is lifted up and draws all mankind unto Him 
through the sympathy and love of his divine benevo- 
lence. Satan is cast down, and drags man after him 
through their participation in his supreme selfishness. 
These are ideals of the lower and the higher self in 
man ; and these two strive in man for the possession 
of his will, his consciousness, and his life. The selfish 
ego belongs, as we have elsewhere shown, to the re- 
ceding wave of animal life. Man leaves this behind 
him as he journeys toward perfection. The con- 
scious individuality belongs to the advancing wave 
involved from the divine life, and this unfolds and is 



292 A Study of Man. 

illumined as man journeys toward perfection. Noth- 
ing can be plainer than this as the real meaning of 
human life. It is a great mistake to suppose that 
birth is the beginning and death the end of man. An 
endless future necessarily implies a measureless past. 
What we call time is a span between two eternities, 
the whence and the whither ; and when time drops 
out. eternity only remains. It would be as correct to 
say that we die into this world and are born out of it, 
as to say that we are born into it and die out of it. 
Our mistake of the meaning of life includes a mis- 
taken idea regarding both birth and death ; and we 
have previously shown the evidence of this mistake 
in the fact that we have allowed fear and foreboding 
of evil to gather around the exit which is painless 
and beneficent as a baby's sleep, and have come with 
rejoicings to welcome the entrance which is often an 
inferno to both mother and child. It is thus that 
man's ignorant and superstitious ideas have reversed 
the beneficent will of nature, and reduced divine 
ideals to grotesque and horrible caricatures. No 
wonder that the despairing soul cries: 

"Alone! alone! 
Forth out of the darkness, 
Back into the darkness 

We come and we go alone." 

Whence then comes the light to the despairing 
soul alone in darkness ? It comes from within as a 
revelation of that divinity which lies at the very 



The Higher Self. 293 

foundation of the self-conscious life of man. Divine- 
consciousness in man is illumination. This is the 
mystery of self-consciousness, and it can be no more 
comprehended in terms of sense and matter, than the 
senseless rock can comprehend the sympathies of 
man. Naught but a spark of the divine would be 
capable of unfolding even to man's present estate, 
so that by experience he could epitomize all lower 
life ; and naught but the divinity in man could lead 
him even through hope and desire to still grander 
possibilities of being. 

The fact of a double consciousness in man is demon- 
strated by somnambulism. Man continually leads a 
double life. The subjective plane of experience is as 
patent and demonstrable as the objective, and the 
fact that man fails to distinguish between these two 
planes of consciousness, and is unable as a rule to as- 
sign his varied experiences to the proper plane, proves 
nothing to the contrary. This will be still more ap- 
parent when we consider, that as consciousness is the 
one center into which flow both lines of experience, 
and that all experiences of one plane are necessarily 
mixed with those of the other, it therefore requires a 
wider range of experience on both planes, and a high 
degree of consciousness to preserve the difference 
and trace the analogies. 

There are thousands of individuals to-day who are 
conscious of experience more or less clear on the sub- 
jective plane of being. Many of these can enter tkia 



294 A Study of Man. 

condition at will. In other cases it may be readily 
induced by artificial means, such as magnetism, and 
the use of drugs. Most of these artificial methods of 
inducing subjective consciousness are attended with 
great danger to the subject, and with very grave re- 
sponsibility to the operator, who in depriving an in- 
dividual of his self-control and impressing upon such 
persons his own personality, whether good or bad, 
must in some measure at least become responsible for 
the future acts of his subject. 

In that profound psychological study, Bulwer's 
Strange Story, when Margrave came under the influ- 
ence of the magic wand, now in the hands of his vic- 
tim, he was not only helpless, but he was compelled 
to tell the truth. This is a universal fact in magnet- 
ism. The magnetic subject may be a villain in his ob- 
jective state, but as soon as his objective life becomes 
obscured and the motives of egotism are laid at rest, 
he comes under the dominion of his higher self, and 
confession of crime, and self-condemnation are often 
the result. The voice of conscience is no longer si- 
lenced by the senses and by self-interest, for con- 
sciousness on the subjective plane discerns only the 
real interest. The individual while conscious on the 
subjective plane may acknowledge and deplore the 
evils of his daily life, and yet predict that he will re- 
turn to and continue in them, for he recognizes the 
conditions that have woven these chains of sense and 
self about him, and he knows that his will is unequal 



The Higher Self. 295 

to the task of overcoming them. He must work out 
the evil Karma that he has engendered. 

It is such facts as these that reveal the existence of 
the higher self and its relations to the two planes of 
consciousness. If now the life of the individual on 
the lower physical plane he inspired by the principle 
of altruism which leads him into all good and to do 
good, the nature of the individual is no longer at war 
with itself. The lower and the higher self are thus 
at-one, and the consciousness of man draws experi- 
ence from the two worlds. Intuition, which is the 
direct apprehension of truth, unconditioned by sense 
and time, and which is the organ of the higher self, 
now supplements intellection, which is the organ of 
the lower self, through the function of the human 
"brain. This union of man's higher and lower nat- 
ures is called, the true illumination, and it has heen 
often achieved in all ages — not by the rich, the pow- 
erful, and the great, as men estimate greatness, hut 
by the lowly, and the humane, by the despised, the 
poor, and the crucified, by those who having become 
dead to the world except as partakers in its misery, 
were alive to God ; their Adonai had cpme. 

If the reader shall say, this is all very beautiful, but 
it is transcendental ; it may do for a romance, or a 
strange story, I ask him then what he can make out 
of the mystery of life or the fear of death ? I ask 
him to reconcile nihilism, agnosticism and spiritual- 
ism, and give the true meaning of magnetism, hyp- 



296 A Study of Man. 

notism, clair-audience, clairvoyance and the consult- 
ing of familiar spirits, a meaning and a use that is 
not transcendental. Is man then hopelessly bewil- 
dered and irretrievably lost ? 

I hold that true religion and true science come to 
the same conclusions. I hold that man's most 
bounden duty and his highest hopes demand that he 
shall know himself — not the selfish-self alone, that 
recedes and finally disappears as he journeys toward 
perfection, but also that higher-self that expands, il- 
lumines and inspires the ideal life. I hold that this 
higher self, this divine ideal is the modulus of nature, 
and therefore the true meaning of life. The Christ- 
idea did not originate eighteen hundred years ago. 
Christos was in the bosom of the Father from the be- 
ginning. Man has forgotten the civilizations that are 
past, but mother earth remembers all her children. 
These buried civilizations have tramped like mighty 
armies all round and round the globe. Every hill- 
side is a necropolis, and every valley is filled with dry 
bones. The dust of ages covers the remains and 
crumbles the monuments of man. Submerged con- 
tinents bear down to ocean beds the cities of dim ages 
past. Where was the Divine Father during all these 
eons of time ? Think you my brother He was sitting 
on the outside of creation, and only waking a few years 
ago to the nature and necessities of man ? Alas ! our 
ingrained selfishness is not satisfied with degrading 
man, it must also belittle God. Is Nature's modulus 



The Higher Self. 297 

revealed to-day in every breathing thing, a lucky 
thought of the All-Father for the benefit of his pe- 
culiar people but yesterday, while in the earth's 
more ancient prime things came and went by chance ? 
Is our salvation less to-day because those of old were 
also in the hollow of His hand? Divine altruism 
cried : " Come unto me all ye who labor and are 
heavy laden," and the buried ages heard, and it 
echoes to the ages yet to be. All nature climbs 
toward God as suns and worlds unfold. 

" Yet I doubt not through the ages, 
One increasing purpose runs, 
And the thoughts of men are widened 
With the process of the suns." 

With shaded eyes and bended head man dimly dis- 
cerns the mystery of life. In every clime God's 
altars rise ; in every land and every age man feels the 
touch of wings, and dimly sees as through a veil his 
overshadowing Lord. What matters it the name he 
bears ? Who knows the one true name ? The highest 
name in every time has been man's highest ideal, and 
this has not been derived from selfish beast but dimly 
seen as an overshadowing presence to which man 
gave his highest thought, his choicest gift. This 
ideal does not change, though it seems to recede as 
man advances, and apprehends more of the divine 
beneficence. To the highest soul it is most revealed, 
as distant landscapes blossom forth on nearer view 
from mountain heights. Man has foolishly imagined 



298 A Study of Man. 

that lie could hedge divinity about and appropriate it 
all to himself, and thus our God has been invoiced 
with our other possessions. 'Tis then we know the 
least of God, when we make of him a chattel. 

Symbolize truth as we may, the greater mystery is 
the journey of life, and the great revealer is man's 
higher self, the overshadowing presence that draws 
him up toward diviner things. He who listens to 
the voice within his own soul will learn his own na- 
ture ; it will be revealed from within. Self-con- 
sciousness illuminated will become divine conscious- 
ness, and the more the divine is thus revealed the 
more will man find himself powerless to define it. It 
will still be his highest ideal, and every higher plane 
revealed will show still higher planes beyond. The 
rude savage who worships a fetich never doubts his 
power to name or even to make and to mar his god. 
The illuminated soul with introverted vision is silent, 
for he finds neither name nor quality befitting the 
All-Good, man's idea of God. The higher self when 
fully revealed and set free from the bondage of sense 
will be at-one with that Elder Brother, the Christ, a 
living presence in every illumined soul, a co-worker 
with the divine for the uplifting of humanity. 
* ^ * * * * * 

In these pages no system. of philosophy has been 
attempted, but a systematic use of the knowledge of 
common things has been suggested. Nature every- 
where reveals system and order, but no system of 



The Higher Self. 299 

philosophy promulgated by man has ever compassed 
the order of nature, or embodied the whole truth. 
The so-called originators of the world's philosophies, 
and their enthusiastic followers, have often imagined 
that they have arrived at finalities, when in fact they 
have but dimly discerned at best a few great princi- 
ples. In the application of a principle to the pro- 
cesses of nature man always works from incomplete 
and, therefore, insufficient data. The conditions of a 
complete system of philosophy, such as should stand 
through all time, would demand a complete knowl- 
edge of nature and of man. On the other hand, the 
inductive philosophy alone is insufficient. If, how- 
ever, while pursuing the inductive method of re- 
search, as heretofore shown, proceeding from fact to 
law, we make tentative deductions, holding them 
strictly as such, and viewing them often in the light 
of experience, we shall thus hit upon a method of 
study and observation of incalculable value. We 
may not, indeed, arrive at final truths, but we may 
feel the assurance that we are on the way that leads 
to them. If man will but apply the principles every- 
where revealed as the foundation of human nature, 
to the unfolding of his higher life, he may accom- 
plish in the journey o£ the soul what modern science 
has done in the march of mechanics. 

The dawn of a new era in the life of man is her- 
alded by many signs. The apathy that arose from 
discouragement has given place to the humane im- 



300 A Study of Man. 

pulses that have arisen from even a dim discernment 
of the needs and the possibilities of the hour. The 
leaven of benevolence is at work, and sweet charity 
and tender piety go forth as on wings of angels to 
relieve distress and comfort the despairing. Woman- 
hood, the new messenger of divinity, is thus trying 
her long-pinioned wings and uplifting the human 
race through the immeasurable forces of gentleness 
and love. The soul of womanhood will no longer be 
chained to a crucifix and hedged about by the creeds 
of men. She will arise in the beauty of holiness like a 
true daughter of Zion, and open the Gates of Peace 
that all who will may come in. Look at her deeds 
cf charity and her missions of mercy, and read in 
them the signs of the times. She has not even yet 
fully entered her kingdom, but she already has lifted 
humanity nearer to divinity than have the iron creeds 
of man for ages. The power is hers, but she must 
banish the last vestige of scorn for those of her own 
sex who have unfortunately become the victims of 
man's betrayal; she must realize that sin and crime 
are but the resultants of diseases that are born of ig- 
norance and innocence, and brought about by the 
selfishness of both man and woman ; and she must 
also appreciate the fact that none need the ministry 
of love and kindness more than these sin-sick souls. 
Woman must be true to her womanhood before she 
can inspire man to virtue. In no age has the degra- 
dation of woman been contemporaneous with the 



The Higher Self. 301 

true elevation of man. The fortunate, the upright, 

the untempted — these are not the needy. Only they 

who are sick are in need of a Physician such as Christ 

ever was, such as woman is designed to he. Let it 

he understood that every helpless, ignorant, orphaned 

daughter is the protege of every pure and nohle woman 

in the land, let her ruin he regarded as a universal 

disgrace to her sex, and let justice he meted out to 

her "betrayer and there would he thrown around the 

possible victims of man's innate selfishness a wall 

of protection that no man would dare to scale or 

break down. The adoption of such a code of moral 

ethics would elevate man and woman alike; woman 

would he saved from man, and man saved from 

himself. 

Selfishness is the father of vice ; 
Altruism, the mother of virtue. 

There was a time in the history of man when he 
might have been regarded as a healthy being. "With 
the progress of so-called civilization, and of the in- 
tellectual development of the race, nervous maladies 
have largely increased. The battle-field of disease 
has moved higher with the unfolding of man's higher 
perceptions, and both mental and moral diseases are 
now more often seen than mere physical maladies. 
Mankind begins dimly to discern this fact, though its 
methods and medicines may be likened to those of 
the middle ages in the treatment of physical ailments. 
The Way to Health now lies through co-ordinate har- 



302 A Study of Man. 

mony of man's entire nature. He is a laggard in 
learning and a blind student of human mature who 
believes that any system of drugging or any method 
of mental exaltation now known is sufficient for the 
promotion and preservation of health. Health must 
flow down into man's physical life from the harmony 
of his intellectual and spiritual nature. Health must 
flow up into man's spiritual life from the harmony 
of his natural and physical existence. 

It is said that, when the first rays of the rising sun 
beamed on the statue of Memnon, it emitted in the 
midst of its brazen splendor the confluence of har- 
monious sounds. Even so the physical life of man 
awaits through the long, dark ages of superstition 
the rising glory of a brighter sun whose rays shall 
illumine his entire nature, till it responds without 
discord to the symphonies of creation. 



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